MOSCOW: Russia has fined Google an eye-popping 20 undecillion rubles ($2.5 decillion) for removing Russian state-run and government YouTube channels in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In other words, Google faces a $2.5 trillion trillion trillion bill from the country. Typed out in full, that figure is $2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the huge sum, which he said he couldn’t pronounce, was symbolic.

Russian news agency TASS reported that Google owes Russia a 36-figure sum for violating the country’s administrative offences code by banning YouTube channels.

The report added that if Google fails to pay the fine within nine months, it will double every day thereafter, with no upper limit to the final figure. Google will be locked out of Russia until it pays the fine.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia’s huge fines imposed on Google were largely symbolic and designed to spur the internet giant into lifting restrictions on Russian YouTube channels.

The total sum of legal claims against Google in Russia has reached two undecillion rubles, according to the Russian news outlet RBK, a figure higher than all the money in the world combined.

“I can’t even pronounce this number, but it is more likely imbued with symbolism,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies. “Google should not restrict the actions of our broadcasters, but it does.

This should be a reason for Google’s management to pay attention to this and correct the situation,“ he added. Since launching its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, Russia has levied huge fines on social media companies accused of hosting Kremlin-critical or pro-Ukraine content.

YouTube is still available in Russia but authorities have repeatedly threatened to take it offline over its bans on state-owned Russian content.

Russian courts have repeatedly fined YouTube’s owner Google in a bid to force the tech giant into compliance, with the legal costs multiplying each day it fails to carry out Moscow’s demands.

The Kremlin said that Alphabet’s Google should lift its block on Russian TV channels broadcasting on YouTube and said it hoped huge legal claims racking up against the US-based company would jolt it into action.

Google stopped serving ads to users in Russia in March 2022 and paused monetisation of content which it deemed to exploit, dismiss or condone Russia’s war in Ukraine.

It has since blocked more than 1,000 YouTube channels, including state-sponsored news, and over 5.5 million videos.

Russian business newspaper RBC reported this week that legal claims brought by 17 Russian TV channels against Google in Russian courts, which have imposed compound fines on Google’s turnover in Russia, had reached two undecillion roubles, a number with 36 zeroes.

“These demands — they simply demonstrate the essence of our channels’ claims against Google,” Peskov told reporters. “Google should not restrict the activities of our broadcasters, and Google is doing this.

“Probably, this (the huge legal claims mounting up) should be a reason for Google’s management to take notice and rectify the situation.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2024