Google fined 2.5 decillion dollars over YouTube channel bans in Russia

Google declared bankrupt in Russia

(One billion has 9 zeros, while a decillion has 33 zeros.)

Moscow (Russia) – In 2020, Google imposed a ban on 17 YouTube channels that supported Russia. In response, these channels filed a lawsuit. During the 2020 hearing, a Russian court ordered a daily fine of 100,000 roubles (Russia’s currency), equivalent to Rs 84,000 until the ban was lifted. A nine-month period was given for payment. The court also stated that if Google failed to pay the fine within this period, the amount would double every 24 hours. Consequently, this fine has now reached 2.5 decillion dollars. This amount is over 620 times the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the entire world. In other words, all countries would need to increase their combined GDP by 620 times to match this amount.

In 2022, Google was declared bankrupt in Russia; however, services like Google’s search engine and YouTube are still available in the country. Russia has banned social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, though Google has not yet faced a similar ban. However, Google has reduced its services in Russia.

Over the past 10 years, various countries have imposed fines totalling 14 billion dollars (Rs 11,620 crore) on Google. On 21 October 2022, India fined Google Rs 1,338 crore for anti-competitive practices.

The United Kingdom has also accused Google of exploiting its dominance in the digital advertising market.