Russian Court Slaps Google With Comically Giant Fine Bigger Than All The Money On Earth
Russia has had about enough of Google suspending some of their YouTube accounts, and they've decided to do something … even if that something is completely ridiculous: a fine bigger than all the money on the entire planet cobbled together.
That's the sensible way of doing business that one would expect from the nation you think of when you think of bears riding unicycles.
Moscow-based lawyer Ivan Morozov told state media that a Russian court had levied a fine against Google over not restoring YouTube accounts belonging to Russian TV channels since the platform is owned by the tech giant.
Russia is slapping Google with an absurdly massive fine for not reinstating several YouTube accounts belonging to Russian TV channels. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
However, Google has decided not to pay that fine, but it doubles every year that they don't pay.
So, that fine is now up to 2 undecillion rubles or $20.6 decillion.
What does that number look like? Glad you asked; here it is: $20,604,600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Good Lord, that's a lot of borscht…
Now, Google has some deep pockets, but nowhere close to deep enough to cover even a fraction of that total. In fact, the global GDP — read: all the money there is — is only estimated to be in the neighborhood of $105 trillion, and that's not even a fraction of that total.
How big is that number?
If Google paid the entire planet's GDP every day — and that's every day since the dawn of time — they'd only cut into that fine by 3%.
I get the sense that Russia doesn't offer any kind of payment plan for this. So, like anyone does when a bill is too high for you to pay, Google is just blowing it off.
I don't if the Russians have too many friends these days, but if they do, one of them needs to tap them on the shoulder and let them know that the rest of the world thinks they're completely insane.
"I know you think you're being some big bad Ivan Drago-like tough guy… but to the rest of the world you just come across like some goofy Boris Badonov."