Russian court levies huge $20 decillion fine against Google

Oct. 31 (UPI) — A Russian court has levied an enormous fine of $20 decillion against Google LLC for blocking 17 Russian channels.

The fine of $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 exceeds Google’s $2 trillion market value and the world’s $110 trillion annual GDP.

According to Russian media outlet RBC, the stratospheric fine will keep increasing daily until Google restores the Russian channels.

The Russian media outlets sued in 2020 when Google blocked the outlets Tsargrad TV channel and RIA FAN in connection with violation of sanctions legislation and trade rules.

The fine will likely not be paid because of the exorbitant cost and the fact that Google’s local subsidiary declared bankruptcy in 2022.

The number is smaller than a googol, which has 100 zeroes, compared to the fine’s 33 zeroes. Google’s founders named the company after the googol number.

“Although it is a specific amount, I cannot even say this number, it is rather filled with symbolism,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told NBC News.

Peskov told reporters during a briefing call that Google should not restrict Russian media outlets.

The gigantic fine came after previous Russian action against Google in May 2021 when the Russian government regulator Roskomnadzor accused Google of supporting allegedly illegal protest activity and restricting access to RT and Sputnik.

In July, 2022 Google was fined $388.84 million for allowing information about the Ukraine war to be published in Russia.

In Dec. 2021 a Russian court fined Google nearly $100 million and fined Facebook’s parent company Meta $30 million for failing to obey Russian censorship of content.