A Russian court has ruled that Google owes around $20 decillion in fines an unimaginable figure of 20 followed by 33 zeros for allegedly blocking Russian media content. This enormous penalty emerged from a four-year court case beginning in 2020, when YouTube, owned by Google, banned Tsargrad, a nationalist Russian channel, in response to U.S. sanctions on its owner. Following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, more media channels were banned, prompting 17 state-linked stations, including Zvezda (owned by the Ministry of Defence), to sue Google.
The staggering fine reflects a calculation under Art. 13.41 of Russia’s Administrative Offenses Code, which mandates daily fines doubling every week for non-compliance. Google’s compound debt — multiplying exponentially like Einstein’s “eighth wonder of the world” led to the incomprehensible amount, which even the judge called a case of “many, many zeros.” To contextualize, the fine dwarfs global GDP, estimated at $100 trillion by the World Bank. With Google’s recent quarterly revenue of $88 billion, the company would fall incomprehensibly short of paying this sum.
Despite the case’s apparent severity, it seems unlikely that Alphabet, Google’s parent company, will feel a significant financial impact. Google ceased operations in Russia in 2022, citing the seizure of its bank accounts and the inability to pay staff, leaving its Russian branch effectively bankrupt. Now, as Russian authorities struggle to seize Google’s assets globally, Alphabet has responded confidently, stating in its recent earnings report, “We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.”
For now, Google remains unfazed. At publication, the company declined to comment on this fantastical penalty a battle that continues globally with little expectation of financial consequence for the tech giant.