A Russian court has fined Google an eye-watering $20 decillion dollars for allegedly blocking pro-Kremlin propaganda on YouTube. The mind-boggling sum is the result of four years of accumulated fines, with the figure currently doubling every week under Russian law. The Russian government initially charged the US tech giant 100,000 rubles in 2020. It came after media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN filed and won lawsuits in Russia related to restrictions on their YouTube channels.

The news of the $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 fine was first reported by Russian state news site RBC. They claim Google also banned some of their other state run media outlets in 2022 due to their support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Google restricted the creation of new accounts for Russian users last month and deactivated AdSense accounts in the country in August. This means that YouTubers in Russia cannot make money from adverts on their videos.

Online ads have also not been featured for YouTube users in Russia since March 2022 as part of Google's sanctions against Russia. However Google’s services, including YouTube and Search, have continued to operate in Russia.

Google acknowledged its ongoing legal issues in Russia in its latest quarterly results, which were published on Tuesday evening. “We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia,” the company noted in the report. “For example, civil judgments that include compounding penalties have been imposed upon us in connection with disputes regarding the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned parties. We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.” Google reported revenue of $306 billion last year, far less than the sanction imposed by Russia.