It now aims at an astronomical financial claim against one of the largest technology firms in the world.
Reports say that Google is allegedly liable to the Kremlin for more than 2 undecillion rubles, represented by a 2 followed by 36 zeros, for failing to pay the fines accumulating because of blocking pro-Russian channels on YouTube.
This almost unpronounceable fine is $20 billion, which works out at approximately $20 billion trillion figure far exceeding the total size of the global economy.
By comparison, the gross domestic product of the entire world, pegged by the International Monetary Fund at around $110 trillion, seems rather modest. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has a market capitalization of about $2 trillion.
This week, the Russian state media TASS reported that a court in Russia had earlier ordered Google to restore the YouTube channels blocked since 2022, threatening to hike sanctions every week if there was no compliance.
CNN has reached out to Google for comment. In its quarterly earnings report earlier this week, the company said it had "ongoing legal matters" about its services in Russia.
"Accumulating fines have been issued against us regarding disputes over the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned entities," Google said. "We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect on our earnings."
After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Google retreated from the country but did not pull out entirely, unlike many other American tech companies. Many of its services, including Search and YouTube, remain available inside Russia.
Time spent on this page: 00:00:00
