A Russian court has imposed an astronomical fine of $2.5 decillion on Google, after the tech company allegedly blocked pro-Kremlin content on YouTube, according to Russian state media on October 29.
This sum, written in full as $2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or $2.5 trillion trillion trillion — an amount vastly exceeding the global GDP of $110 trillion.
This war reported by the Kyiv Independent.
The fine stems from an initial 100,000-ruble penalty in 2020, which has continued to double weekly under Russian law.
Russian media outlet TASS reported that if the fine remains unpaid for nine months, it will start doubling every day.
In response, Google stated in its October 29 quarterly results that it does not expect these legal issues to have a "material adverse effect" on the company.
Google’s disputes with Russia predate the current conflict, including fines of $78.2 million in December 2021 and additional penalties in 2022 and 2023 for failing to remove banned content.
Google’s appeals against these fines have been rejected by Russian courts.
