\n<\/p>\n
A Russian court has fined Google two undecillion roubles – a two followed by 36 zeroes – for restricting Russian state media channels on YouTube.<\/p>\n
In dollar terms that means the tech giant has been told to pay $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.<\/p>\n
Despite being one of the world’s wealthiest companies, that is considerably more than the $2 trillion Google is worth.<\/p>\n
In fact, it is far greater than the world\u2019s total GDP, which is estimated by the International Monetary Fund to be $110 trillion.<\/p>\n
The fine has reached such a gargantuan level because – as state news agency Tass has highlighted<\/a> – it is rapidly increasing all the time.<\/p>\n According to Tass, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted he “cannot even pronounce this number” but urged “Google management to pay attention.”<\/p>\n The company has not commented publicly or responded to a BBC request for a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Russia media outlet RBC reports<\/a> the fine on Google relates to the restriction of content of 17 Russian media channels on YouTube.<\/p>\n While this started in 2020, it escalated after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years later.<\/p>\n That saw most Western companies pull out of Russia, with doing business there also tightly restricted by sanctions<\/a>.<\/p>\n Russian media outlets were also banned in Europe – prompting retaliatory measures from Moscow<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2022, Google\u2019s local subsidiary was declared bankrupt and the company has stopped offering its commercial services in Russia, such as advertising.<\/p>\n However, its products are not completely banned in the country.<\/p>\n This development is the latest escalation between Russia and the US tech giant.<\/p>\n In May, 2021, Russia\u2019s media regulator Roskomnadzor accused Google of restricting YouTube access to Russian media outlets<\/a>, including RT and Sputnik, and supporting “illegal protest activity”.<\/p>\n Then, in July, 2022, Russia fined Google 21.1bn rouble<\/a> (\u00a3301m) for failing to restrict access to what it called “prohibited” material about the war in Ukraine and other content.<\/p>\n There is virtually no press freedom in Russia, with independent news outlets and freedom of expression<\/a> severely curtailed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n