Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has accumulated a fine of around 2 undecillion rubles ($2.5 decillion USD) in Russia.
- The fines are for Google’s refusal to reinstate YouTube accounts of pro-Kremlin media outlets.
- This fine is trillions of times Alphabet’s net worth, making it financially impossible to pay.
Google is no stranger to hefty fines. In the last decade alone, the tech giant has racked up an estimated $14 billion in penalties worldwide. But that figure is starting to look like spare change compared to the fines Google has accumulated in Russia. (h/t: The Moscow Times)
As reported by the RBC news website, Google’s unpaid fines in Russia have spiraled to an unimaginable 2 undecillion rubles ($2.5 decillion USD). To give you an idea of just how massive this number is, it requires 33 zeros to write out.
For some context, Google’s largest fine so far was €4.34 billion (approximately $4.7 billion), issued by the EU in 2018 over antitrust violations related to Android — minuscule next to Russia’s current demand.
This Russian fine is not about antitrust violations or data privacy breaches but rather the company’s refusal to comply with Russian court orders to restore the YouTube accounts of pro-Kremlin and state-run media outlets. These outlets, including Tsargrad TV and RIA FAN, were blocked by YouTube in 2020 for “violations of sanctions legislation and trade rules” as their owners have been under US sanctions since 2014.
The Moscow court ordered Google to restore the account and imposed a progressively increasing fine for non-compliance.
Starting at 100,000 rubles per day, the fine doubles each week, leading to the current mind-boggling total.
The situation escalated further after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. YouTube blocked the accounts of several other Russian state-run media outlets, including Sputnik, NTV, Russia 24, RT, and others, due to their support for the war. This triggered a wave of lawsuits from a total of 17 Russian TV channels, including Channel One, Zvezda, etc.
While Google’s parent company, Alphabet, boasts a market cap of around 2 trillion US dollars, it’s a mere drop in the ocean compared to the Russian fine. To illustrate, to reach a decillion from a trillion, you multiply by one million, then another million, and then another million. Essentially, Alphabet’s entire net worth is a rounding error in this equation.
It’s important to note that Google is unlikely to ever pay this fine. The company’s Russian subsidiary declared bankruptcy in 2022, and Google has proactively filed lawsuits in US and UK courts against the owners of the Russian TV channels, aiming to obtain a ruling that would prevent them from pursuing legal action outside of Russia.