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Google has racked up some 2 undecillion rubles ($2.5 decillion) worth of fines in Russia after years of refusing to restore the accounts of pro-Kremlin and state-run media outlets, the RBC news website reported on October 29, citing an anonymous source familiar with court rulings against the tech company.

According to RBC’s sources, Google began accumulating daily penalties of 100,000 rubles in 2020 after the pro-government media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN won lawsuits against the company for blocking their YouTube channels.

Those daily penalties have doubled each week, leading to the current overall fine of around 2 undecillion rubles.

Undecillion is a number equal to 1 followed by 36 zeros.

Google, whose parent company Alphabet reported a revenue of more than $307 billion in 2023, is unlikely to ever pay the incredibly high fine the report detailed further. 

Details of the legal claim filed against Google

A total of 17 Russian TV channels have filed legal claims against Google, according to one of RBC’s sources.

Among them are the state-run Channel One, the military-affiliated Zvezda broadcaster, and a company representing RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, blocked several Russian state-run media outlets over their support of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Authorities in Moscow retaliated with fines but stopped short of blocking the website.

Google’s Russian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy in the summer of 2022 and was officially declared bankrupt last fall.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google had earlier halted advertising in Russia to comply with Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

This ongoing legal battle highlights the growing tensions between Western tech companies and the Russian government, which seeks to assert control over online narratives.

The staggering fines serve as a clear message to other global corporations about the consequences of defying state directives in the current geopolitical climate.

As the situation evolves, it remains to be seen how both parties will navigate this intricate conflict.

This fine on Google marks another high between the complicated geopolitical relationship between US and Russia due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

The global community will closely follow these developments going ahead and take investment decisions based on the same.