Russia ‘fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000, -000,000,000,000,000,000’ – more than all the money in the world

Google has been fined a staggering 20 decillion dollars by a Russian court – more than all the money in the world, according to reports.

The tech giant is facing claims from 17 Russian TV channels after banning their accounts on YouTube, which it owns, as a result of international sanctions.

Pro-Kremlin channels involved in the case reportedly include Russia 1 and the platform belonging to Russia Today presenter and Putin mouthpiece Margarita Simonyan.

A Moscow judge described the legal battle as ‘a case in which there are many, many zeros’, according to news outlet RBC.

The broadcaster reports that the amount of the fine has doubled every week since 2020, and is now up to the equivalent of $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Google’s recently released interim report for the third quarter shows its total revenue is 88.2 billion dollars – a long way off even thinking about paying the extortionate sum. The penalty also eclipses Google’s $2-trillion market value by a long chalk.

Meanwhile the World Bank estimates the size of the global economy to be around 100 trillion dollars, or 100 followed by 12 zeros.

That figure is at least 20 zeros too little to reach the astronomical Russian fine.

Google closed down its Russian division in 2022 following Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Its Russian subsidiary, Google LLC, declared bankruptcy, but many of its services including its search engine and YouTube have remained accessible to Russians.

While the Kremlin has banned some platforms including Twitter and Facebook, it has so far stopped short of blocking access to Google’s services.

Google has continued to face pressure however for both failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal and restricting access to some Russian media on YouTube.

The video streaming site has banned a number of pro-Moscow pages, including propaganda channel Tsargrad TV, owned by oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, four years ago.

The tech giant is facing claims from 17 Russian TV channels after banning their accounts on YouTube , which it owns

Google was fined a daily penalty of 100,000 rubles and warned that amount would double every 24 hours if it was not paid.

In Russian currency, the fine now amounts to more than 2 undecillion rubles, a 36-digit figure, lawyer Ivan Morozov told the state-owned TASS news agency.

Despite the dizzying sums being demanded by judges in Moscow, Google has remained defiant.

The company said in its last earnings statement: ‘We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.’

It’s unlikely Google will ever get to the point of being fined a googol – ten-duotrigintillion dollars – written as a ten with one hundred zeros.

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Nigeria’s major cultural festivals, such as Ofala of Onitsha Kingdom in Anambra State can play a critical role in the country’s development, Globacom’s Divisional Head, South, Tochukwu Okechukwu, has said.

Okechukwu stated this at the recently held 2024 Ofala Festival.  He noted that cultural industries, such as festivals, tourism, arts, and crafts could contribute significantly to the economy, create jobs, generate revenue, and promote local products.

“Culture influences education systems and can inspire creativity and innovation. Cultural knowledge can enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Moreover, a vibrant culture enhances a nation’s soft power, improving its international standing and influence through diplomacy, trade, and cultural exchange,” he added.

He also stated that communication is the lifeblood of society, saying, “It is through dialogue and connection that we foster understanding and collaboration. Our mission is to empower every voice within our community to be heard through affordable telecom services and digital solutions.”

Earlier in his address to the audience, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, expressed gratitude to Globacom for its support for the festival over the years.

Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC halted shipments to a customer this month after its semiconductors were sent to China’s Huawei, a Taipei government official told AFP, potentially breaching US sanctions.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the world’s largest contract manufacturer of chips used in everything from Apple iPhones to Nvidia’s cutting-edge artificial intelligence hardware.

Huawei, the world’s leading equipment maker for fifth generation mobile internet networks, has been embroiled in a tech war between Beijing and Washington.

The United States slapped sanctions on Huawei in 2019, and expanded them the following year, over fears its technology could be used for Beijing’s espionage operations. Huawei denies the allegations.

The sanctions cut Huawei off from global supply chains that gave it access to the US-made components and technologies crucial to manufacturing powerful AI systems.

The restrictions prevent TSMC from selling semiconductors to Huawei.

But, TSMC discovered on October 11 that chips made for a “specific customer” had ended up with the Chinese company, a Taiwanese official with knowledge of the incident told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

TSMC “immediately activated its export control procedures”, halting shipments to the customer and “proactively” notifying US and Taiwan authorities, the official said.

In a statement on Wednesday, TSMC said it was a “law-abiding company” and had not supplied Huawei since mid-September 2020 in compliance with export controls.

“We proactively communicated with the US Commerce Department regarding the matter in the report,” TSMC said, apparently referring to media reporting of the incident.

“We are not aware of TSMC being the subject of any investigation at this time.”

Taiwan’s economic ministry told AFP on Thursday that TSMC had informed them about the incident, but had not identified their client.

“There was already an interaction and a contractual partnership in place, so it’s an old client,” the ministry said.

They had been a client since before the 2020 deadline for companies to comply with the export controls, and “no shipments have been made since October 11”, it said.

Self-sufficiency

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Canadian research firm TechInsights had found an advanced processor made by TSMC inside Huawei’s latest AI chip.

Huawei did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.

The company told Bloomberg that it hadn’t “produced any chips via TSMC after the implementation of the amendments made by the US Department of Commerce” to its trade restrictions targeting Huawei in 2020.

In response to US export restrictions, Beijing has turbo-charged a drive for self-sufficiency in chips, with plans to pump billions of dollars into the sector.

Huawei last year unveiled the Mate 60 Pro, a high-performance smartphone equipped with a chip that experts say would be impossible to produce without foreign technologies.

That sparked debate about whether attempts to curb China’s technological advancements have been effective.