A court in Russia has found Google, owners of YouTube, guilty of unfairly blocking the accounts of Russian channels.
The court slammed a fine of 2.5 undecillion rubles or $2.5 decillion. This is 2.5 trillion, trillion, trillion dollars, that is, two followed by 36 zeroes.
Google is worth $2.16 trillion.
The fine announced on 29 October, 2024, is seen more as symbolic because it is higher than the entire world GNP estimated by the IMF to be $110 trillion.
In 2020, Google blocked the accounts for promoting state-run, pro-government propaganda in support of the Russian war in Ukraine.
It is difficult to see how Google will pay the fine if it wishes to return to Russia.
