10mo ago

Russia fines Google more than the world’s total GDP over YouTube bans

www.euronews.com /business/2024/10/30/russia-fines-google-more-than-the-worlds-total-gdp-over-youtube-bans

Russia fined Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 - that’s 2.5 trillion trillion trillion dollars after the US tech giant took action against Putin's propaganda.

21 comments

Hey Google, now might be a good time to stop cowering to tinpot dictators. Google has bent over backwards to appease these people and this is what Google gets in return.
- Sure would be a shame if all Google services stopped working in Russia and russosympathetic nations, and people's accounts that got accessed from primarily Russian locations get banned.
  
  Does it really help to isolate them from the rest of the world even more? It's kind of what those dictators are trying to do in the first place.
- Oh no, what ever will they do without the world's largest spy agency.
- IIRC, the fine started at something like $1000 and doubled weekly. The fact that it's ballooned to $20 decillion (or whatever) shows that they did stop appeasing them, because if Google had capitulated the balance would've quit growing.
Google should mail them a giant check
Is that not 20 decillion? Why say ‘trillion x3?’
Edit: sorry, it says so in the article.
- Even weirder, the article says this:
  To put that into perspective, global GDP reaches an estimated $110 thousand billion (12-digit figure), according to the IMF.
  Decillion might not be a word people know, but surely trillion is?
So Russia is saying that companies are obliged to carry content they disagree with?
More than the world's GDP? Technically true, but a gross understatement. If we actually had that money it cash, it would create a mass larger than our sun and fucking annihilate the solar system.
- Ah not if we make a new note.
- World GDP is only about $100 trillion. Even if you squared the world GDP it would still be 2 million times smaller than this fine!
I mean ... I have been wanting to see megacorps hit with fines that are more than slap on the wrist / cost of doing business level of expense.
- enforcementtracker.com
- Yep, I said the same thing in the previous thread on this topic.
  The concept of geometrically increasing fines to coerce compliance (and quickly!) is a good one, and western governments need to find the balls to start using that tactic for good reasons (e.g. anti-trust, consumer protection, etc.).
The two numbers in the text aren't equal. The first is 20 billion trillion trillion, and the second is 125 times larger.
Edit: I'm bad at counting zeros, too. The first number is correct (20 decillion), and the second is wrong (2.5 undecillion)
Google’s response
(Jump to 2:43 if that didn’t link right)
Well if they fined Google in rubles that’s basically pocket change.
lmao, nice one

21 comments