Russia fines Google $2.5 decillion over YouTube bans
October 30, 2024 18.19 Europe/London By Robert Briel

According to Russian media outlet RBC and reported by the Moscow Times a Russian judge has slapped Google with fines amounting to 2 undecillion rubles (EUR2.3 decillion) after years of refusing to restore the accounts of pro-Kremlin and state-run media outlets.

The said fine was imposed on Google by the Russian court due to the company’s failure to fulfil the requirement to restore Russian media accounts on Google’s YouTube.

The affected TV channels are Zvezda, Channel One, VGTRK (TV channels Rossiya 1, Rossiya 24, etc.), Parliament TV (TV channels Rossiya 1, Rossiya 24, etc.). ), Parliament TV, Moscow Media, TV-Centre, NTV, GPM Entertainment Television, Public Television of Russia, TV Channel 360, TRK Petersburg, Orthodox Television Foundation, National Sports TV Channel, Technological Company Centre, as well as IE Simonyan M.S., representing the YouTube channel of TV presenter Margarita Simonyan.

According to RBC’s sources, Google began accumulating daily penalties of 100,000 rubles in 2020 after the pro-government media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN won lawsuits against the company for blocking their YouTube channels. Those daily penalties have doubled each week, leading to the current overall fine of around 2 undecillion rubles.

Undecillion is a number equal to 1 followed by 36 zeros. Google is unlikely to ever pay the incredibly high fine.

Google’s parent company Alphabet said in its Q2 2024 report that “Google has ongoing legal issues related to Russia. For example, some of the disputes relate to the closure of accounts, including those of sanctioned individuals. The company has also been subject to progressive fines in connection with disputes over account blocking, including accounts of sub-sanctioned individuals. We do not believe these legal cases will have a material adverse effect on Google’s business.”