Google fined $2.5 decillion by Russian court for blocking content on YouTube

A Russian court has fined Google for more money than there is on Earth for allegedly blocking videos on YouTube.

In 2020, Russian media companies began filing lawsuits against Google, claiming that the company had restricted media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN on YouTube “in connection with violations of sanctions legislation and trade rules.”

The media companies originally won the suit and Google was ordered to pay 100,000 rubles, about $1,000 USD.

According to Russian news site RBC, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, YouTube restricted other news sites, resulting in more fines being levied.

In September, Google restricted the creation of new accounts for Russian users and deactivated AdSense accounts in the country a month prior.

Now, due to four years of accumulated fines, a Russian court has increased the amount owed to a whopping 2 undecillion rubles, or $2.5 decillion.

For context, that’s more than all the money in the entire world. As the Independent reports, that’s $2.5 trillion trillion trillion. This is what the number looks like when written out: 2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Even crazier? That amount will double every week in accordance with Russian law.

Russian media outlets are looking to Turkey, Hungary, Spain, South Africa and other countries to enforce the court’s decision. According to RBC, in June, the High Court of the Republic of South Africa agreed to seize Google’s assets after the company refused to restore Russian TV channel Spas’s YouTube account.

Although Google’s bank accounts have been seized, the company isn’t fazed by the legal issues. In its quarterly results report, Google touched on the lawsuits and explained why it isn’t worried.

“We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia,” they said.

“For example, civil judgments that include compounding penalties have been imposed upon us in connection with disputes regarding the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned parties. We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.”