Humanize AI Russian court fines Google $20 Decillion
Russia hits media with at least a $20 decillion fine—more than double the market value of Google and twice as much as YouTube—after failing to enforce a ban on blocked materials.
That means, put in perspective, the World Bank says world GDP is some $100 trillion, chump change compared to this new penalty. Google needs more dough than exists on this Earth to pay Moscow, but short of that figure, it did turn up Tuesday, posting $88 billion in quarterly revenue.
The odd amount has been calculated after a four-year court case that started after YouTube banned the ultra-nationalist Russian channel Tsargrad in 2020 in response to the US sanctions imposed against its owner. After the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Putin in 2022, more channels were added to the banned list, and 17 stations are now suing the Chocolate Factory, including Zvezda (a TV channel owned by Putin's Ministry of Defence), according to local media.
Google was taken to a Russian court for administrative liability under Art. 13.41 of the Administrative Offenses Code over the removal of channels on the YouTube platform. The court forced the company to restore the channels, lawyer Ivan Morozov said in a discussion with the TASS state media agency.
The court put a fine of 100 thousand rubles ($1,025) per day, with the total fine doubling each week. Owing to compound interest (Einstein's eighth wonder of the world), Google is now on the hook for an insane amount of money, or what the judge on Monday called "a case in which there are many, many zeros."
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Not that there's much chance of bankrupting Alphabet over the issue. Google in Russia has been inactive since 2022 after the search giant effectively pulled out of the country following Putin's special military operation. Google says the Russian authorities had seized its bank accounts and the offshoot was essentially bankrupt. The ad-spreader had over 200 staff in Russia and while some have been relocated, others were laid off.
The fight is on in courts around the world as Moscow tries to freeze Google's assets, but so far, to little avail. The Chocolate Factory seems far from perturbed by the whole thing.
"We have pending litigation involving Russia. For example, civil judgments that include compounding penalties have been levied against us regarding disputes concerning account terminations, including accounts of sanctioned parties," Alphabet said in its most recent earnings release.
"We do not believe these pending legal matters will have a material adverse effect."
Google had no comment on the penalty at the time of writing.
