Russia May ‘Bankrupt’ Google

Russia drops colossal monetary blow on Google – Hefty nice tops international’s overall GDP for blockading Kremlin propaganda.

In what could also be the mum of all fines, Google has been slapped with a penalty that makes even the sector’s complete financial system seem like pocket trade. Russia’s penalty is for a staggering 20 undecillion rubles – $20 decillion- or 2.5 trillion trillion trillion greenbacks! The nice is for Google’s refusal to revive YouTube channels with Kremlin-friendly content material.

The sector’s GDP is these days estimated at $110 thousand billion (12-digit determine) by means of the IMF. The sum has grown so astronomical it could take greater than the blended GDP of each nation on Earth to settle this Russian tab.

For the reason that saga started in 2020, Google has been butting heads with Moscow after pulling the plug on pro-Russian retailers, together with Tsargrad TV and RIA FAN, because of sanctions related to the Ukraine invasion. With 17 Russian channels now banned on YouTube, Russia hit again with the nice, which doubles day by day for each neglected fee. Disregard merely re-entering the Russian marketplace – Google could be locked out till they conjure up a universe’s price of money.

Russian information company Tass claims Google now owes a “36-figure sum” beneath Russia’s Administrative Offences Code. One unnamed pass judgement on, with a wit that might fill a Kremlin courtyard, stated he was once dealing with “a case during which there are lots of, many zeros.”

As though this monetary colossus wasn’t mind-boggling sufficient, Google must paintings over 33 quintillion years to pay it off, even though they forked over their complete benefit once a year. That’s proper: quintillion with 18 zeros – or, in different phrases, an eternity’s paintings. No longer that Google’s fretting an excessive amount of; with their marketplace worth at round $2.16 trillion, this nice is a reminder that some disputes may simply be too wealthy for even tech giants to unravel.

In spite of their Russian financial institution accounts being frozen and their Moscow place of job submitting for chapter in 2022, Google’s unfastened services and products, together with YouTube and Seek, stay obtainable in Russia. However whilst Russian netizens can nonetheless seek and movement, it’s now not without spending a dime. Google axed AdSense in Russia in August and stopped all on-line advertisements within the nation again in 2022.

So, except Google coughs up the inconceivable and submits to the ruling, this cosmic standoff may just cross on indefinitely, eclipsing now not best economies however most likely even the lifespan of our galaxy.

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