A Russian court has fined Google 2 andesi rubles (2 followed by 36 zeros) for restricting Russian state media channels on YouTube.
In dollar terms, the tech giant was told to pay $20 billion.
This is significantly more than the $2 trillion that Google is worth, despite being one of the richest companies in the world.
In fact, this is much larger than the world’s total GDP ($110 trillion), as estimated by the International Monetary Fund.
The fines reached such a huge level because, as highlighted by the state news agency TASS, they are constantly increasing rapidly.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted that he “can’t even pronounce this number,” but urged “Google management to pay attention,” Tass said.
The company has not commented publicly and did not respond to the BBC’s request for a statement.
Russian media RBC reported that the fine against Google is related to restricting the content of 17 Russian media channels on YouTube.
This started in 2020 but escalated two years later when Russia invaded Ukraine in earnest.
As a result, most Western companies withdrew from Russia, and their business activities in Russia were severely restricted by sanctions.
Russian media outlets were also banned in Europe, prompting retaliatory measures from Moscow.
In 2022, Google’s local subsidiary was declared bankrupt, and the company stopped providing advertising and other commercial services in Russia.
However, the company’s products are not completely banned in the country.
The development is the latest escalation between Russia and the US tech giants.
In May 2021, Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor restricted YouTube access to Russian media, including RT and Sputnik, and accused Google of supporting “illegal protests.”
And in July 2022, Russia fined Google 21.1 billion rubles (£301 million) for failing to restrict access to what it called “prohibited” content about the Ukraine war and other content.
Russia has virtually no press freedom, with independent media outlets and freedom of expression severely restricted.
