A Russian court has fined Google 2 undecillion rubles, a sum larger than the total currency in the world. The fine was imposed after YouTube banned Russian media channels. According to the BBC, this amount is equivalent to approximately 20 decillion US dollars (20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000).

Google (Alphabet) is valued at 2 trillion dollars, while the world’s total GDP is 110 trillion dollars. Based on this, the fine is significantly large. The Kremlin’s spokesperson stated that this penalty is enormous and that Google must pay attention to it. This fine dates back to 2020 and has increased following the invasion of Ukraine, after which many Western companies withdrew from Russia.

This situation has further deepened the tension between Google and Russia. In 2021, Russia’s media regulator accused Google of limiting access to Russian media channels on YouTube, including RT and Sputnik. Subsequently, in 2022, Russia fined Google 21.1 billion rubles for failing to restrict access to war and other “prohibited” content. Russia has been pressuring tech companies to ease restrictions on their channels and propaganda.