Russia Fines Google $20 Billion Trillion Trillion

A Russian court that apparently has a poor grasp of numbers and/or reality has ordered Google to pay an absurdly large fine for blocking Russian channels on YouTube. The court says Google owes 2 undecillion rubles, which works out to $20 decillion, or $20 billion trillion trillion, CNN reports. The figure, 20 followed by 33 zeroes, is many times larger than the size of global economy, which the International Monetary Fund estimates is around $110 trillion. Google is valued at around $2 trillion. According to Russian state media, the court earlier ordered Google to unblock 17 channels, including state media channels, or face penalties that would double every week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that while he doesn't even know how to pronounce the number, "it is rather filled with symbolism," NBC News reports. "The company should not restrict our broadcasters on their platform," he said. "This should be a reason for the Google leadership to pay attention to this and improve the situation." In its latest earnings report, Alphabet, Google's parent company, said it did not believe "ongoing legal matters" in Russia would "have a material adverse effect" on earnings. NBC News notes that the fine is lower than the number that inspired the company's name—a googol has a hundred zeroes. (More Russia stories.)