Russian court hits Google with a $20 decillion fine

( WJET/WFXP ) — Yes, you read that number right, and no, it's not a joke. A Russian court on Monday fined Google 2 undecillion rubles (a number followed by 36 zeroes), or roughly $20 decillion USD according to Russian Media.

2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 — a number with a dizzying amount of zeroes — is hard to put into perspective. So, if everyone on Earth would pay the fine, just how long would this take?

The combined global revenue is around $100 trillion a year. If the fine remains at its current $20 decillion price tag, it would take around 200 quintillion years to pay off. However, with the daily fee, weekly doubling, and compound interest, the fine is impossible to pay off at all.

So where did this astronomical fine come from?

The ruling comes after a four-year battle with Google after it refused to reinstate the YouTube accounts of several Pro-Kremlin media counts. According to the Moscow Times, the penalties began accumulating in 2020 when several media outlets won lawsuits against Google.

Though, unsurprisingly Google is very unlikely to pay the fine or to be affected. Google ceased its operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. During this time, the Russian entity faced several fines and lawsuits over the blocking of several Russian media outlets on YouTube.

In June 2022, Google's Russian subsidy filed for bankruptcy citing $196 billion USD in debt against $36 million USD in assets. The company was officially declared bankrupt in Fall 2022.

In its most recent quarterly statement, Alphabet says, "We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia," adding "We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect."