A Russian courtroom has handed Google an astronomical $20 decillion positive—an quantity that vastly exceeds the whole cash provide on this planet—after the tech large blocked accounts belonging to a number of pro-Kremlin TV channels on YouTube.
The case, which has captured world consideration because of the unprecedented determine concerned, displays rising tensions between Google and Russia following worldwide sanctions associated to the Ukraine battle.
The lawsuit was introduced ahead by 17 Russian broadcasters, together with Russia 1 and the platform of Russia Right now presenter Margarita Simonyan, a vocal supporter of President Putin. Google’s YouTube eliminated these accounts underneath sanctions, prompting Moscow judges to impose a punitive positive described by the choose as “a case wherein there are numerous, many zeros,” in response to Russian information outlet RBC.
Initially, the positive was set at 100,000 rubles each day, doubling each 24 hours since 2020. The ensuing penalty has now swelled to $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000—far surpassing Google’s whole income of $88.2 billion and market valuation of $2 trillion, and dwarfing the worldwide economic system’s estimated value of round $100 trillion, in response to the World Financial institution.
Regardless of the mounting strain, Google has proven little signal of compliance, noting in its newest earnings report that “these ongoing authorized issues” are unlikely to impression its operations materially. Google wound down its Russian division in 2022, declaring chapter for its subsidiary Google LLC in Russia, though it continues to supply providers like its search engine and YouTube.
In distinction, different platforms, comparable to Twitter and Fb, have been outright banned by Russian authorities, though Google’s providers stay accessible. YouTube’s removing of pro-Moscow content material has significantly irked the Kremlin, particularly bans on propaganda platforms like Tsargrad TV, owned by oligarch Konstantin Malofeev.
The colossal sum, which stands as one of many largest penalties in authorized historical past, could also be extra symbolic than sensible given Google’s restricted belongings in Russia. But, as Russia’s authorized technique continues to escalate, the tech large seems unphased, its workforce noting that the scenario is unlikely to achieve a positive as excessive as a “googol”—a determine equal to 10 adopted by 100 zeros.