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'Symbolic': Kremlin on $20 decillion fine on Google over YouTube ban

The penalty imposed on Google - $20 decillion, by a Russian court for banning state owned TV channels on YouTube is ‘symbolic’, Kremlin said Thursday October 31, 2024

Friday November 1, 2024 10:55 AM, ummid.com News Network

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Moscow: The penalty imposed on Google - $20 decillion, by a Russian court for banning state owned TV channels on YouTube is ‘symbolic’, Kremlin said Thursday October 31, 2024.

The fine – 2 undecillion rubles which comes to around $2.5 decillion or $20 billion trillion trillion, was imposed on Google after it refused to restore pro-Kremlin and state-run media outlets on YouTube, the Moscow Times reported citing RBC news website.

The fine of 2 undecillion roubles which is 2 followed by 36 zeroes, is considerably more than the $2 trillion Google is worth, and far greater than the world’s total GDP.

“Although it is a concretely formulated sum, I cannot even pronounce this number,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing.

“Rather it is filled with symbolism”, he added.

“In fact, this should be a reason for Google’s management to pay attention to this and fix the situation. This is the best that the company can do,” he said.

YouTube ban on Russian TV Channels

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, RBC reported citing official sources.

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

A total of 17 Russian TV channels have filed legal claims against Google, according to one of RBC 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 restricted the state-run media outlets over their support to Russian invasion of Ukraine. Authorities in Moscow retaliated with fines but stopped short of blocking the website.

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