This is a fine that makes you want to consider paying in installments.
A Russian court is demanding that Google pay so much compensation that even the Kremlin on Thursday said it was more of a symbolic gesture than an amount expected to soon be a military buildup. admitted that.
The fine is approximately 20 desilion dollars (20 followed by 33 zeros), or 2 desilion rubles (37 digits).
According to Russian news agency RBC, the fines will affect 17 Russian television stations and other media outlets that have been blocked from outputting from YouTube (a video platform owned by the tech giant) as sanctions supporters of President Vladimir Putin’s government. is the total amount requested. The invasion of Ukraine.
But the court that imposed the fine may have to wait a long time for Google to pay it.
This number not only exceeds Google’s market capitalization of $2 trillion, but it is also much larger than the International Monetary Fund’s estimated size of the global economy, which is approximately $110 trillion (a number with only 13 zeros).
But at least the fine is not as big as Google with 100 zeros. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin chose this number as the name for the search engine they hoped would organize large amounts of information.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told NBC News on Thursday, in response to a question about how Google plans to pay such a large sum, “It’s not a specific amount, but this figure… I can’t even say it. Rather, it’s full of symbolic meaning.”
“The company should not restrict the platforms of its own broadcasters,” he added during a daily briefing call with reporters. “This should give Google leadership a reason to pay attention to this and improve the situation.”
The amount the court says Google is owed is also increasing.
The case first began in 2020 when Google blocked the channels of then-Wagner Group mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, but after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The lawsuit expanded as YouTube banned additional channels.
The court ordered Google to restore the accounts within nine months and imposed a fine of 100,000 rubles (about $1,000) for each day beyond that period. RBC said the amount of the fine would double for each week of the violation and there was no limit to the amount.
Some of these Russian media outlets have appealed to courts in Turkey, Hungary, Spain, and South Africa to enforce court rulings against Google in Russia. In June, the South African High Court granted a motion to seize some of Google’s assets in the country.
Shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet fell 1.2% in premarket trading, after the company reported quarterly results Wednesday that were well-received by investors and closed nearly 3% higher.
Alphabet stated the following in a section titled “Legal Matters” in its third-quarter earnings release: For example, civil judgments involving severe penalties have been imposed on us in connection with account termination disputes involving sanctioned parties. ”
The company added: “We do not believe that our ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse impact.”
Google did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
