A Russian court has fined Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ($20 decillion or £15.4 decillion), following a controversial four year long court case.
More than the total of all of the money on Earth, the extortionate fine comes following a lawsuit that can be traced back to 2020 when Russian YouTube channel Tsargrad was banned. More Russian YouTube channels were also banned in 2022 as part of a list of sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
A Russian court ordered Google to reinstate the channels or face a progressive fine. This was not only ignored but eventually all Russian state owned Youtube channels were banned on the YouTube platform.
Compound interest has meant that the total fine has doubled every week since 2022 and now the total stands at $20 decillion. The estimated total of global capital is much less at $100 trillion and Google’s quarterly revenue even less at $88 billion – making the fine unaffordable not just by Google by by any person or entity in the world.
In a statement on the matter, Alphabet (the parent company of Google) said, “We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia. For example, civil judgments that include compounding penalties have been imposed upon us in connection with disputes regarding the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned parties. ‘We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.”