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Russia Orders Google to Pay $1.2 Quintillion—A Fine One Million Times Bigger Than the World Economy
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russia’s Supreme Court has upheld a ruling ordering Google to pay an extraordinary 91.5 quintillion rubles (about $1.2 quintillion)—a figure roughly one million times larger than the global gross domestic product, according to court materials, The Moscow Times reported on February 18.
Judge Sergei Samuylov found no grounds to reconsider the cassation appeal filed by the US-based Google International LLC, effectively affirming earlier decisions issued by lower courts.
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The Moscow Arbitration Court set the final penalty of 91.5 quintillion rubles ($1.2 quintillion) in spring 2025. For comparison, the World Bank estimates total global GDP at roughly $100 trillion, making the court-ordered sum vastly larger than the value of the entire world economy.
The legal dispute dates back to 2020, when pro-Kremlin media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN sued Google entities—including Google LLC, Google Ireland, and the Russian subsidiary ООО “Google”—demanding restoration of their blocked YouTube accounts.
Russian courts sided with the plaintiffs, but Google did not comply with the ruling. Judges then imposed a progressive daily penalty that began at 100,000 rubles (about $1,315) and doubled each week the decision remained unenforced.
After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Google suspended most operations in the country and was later declared bankrupt in October 2023.
The court ultimately limited further penalty accumulation to the date of the bankruptcy ruling, fixing the final total at 91.5 quintillion rubles ($1.2 quintillion). Before that cap was applied, the theoretical fine had surged to 1.81 duodecillion rubles—a number containing 39 zeros.
Other claimants in the case include additional state-aligned broadcasters such as Zvezda, Channel One, VGTRK, and several related media organizations.
Earlier, a Moscow arbitration court ordered Google Ireland Limited to return more than $2.1 billion to Google’s bankrupt Russian unit after finding the payments constituted unjust enrichment.
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