Russia's Supreme Court has upheld a ruling ordering Google to pay 91.5 quintillion roubles-roughly $1.2 quintillion-over its refusal to restore pro-Kremlin media accounts on YouTube, cementing one of the largest financial penalties ever issued by a court and escalating a legal battle that began years before Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The decision, issued in Moscow this week, rejects Google International LLC's final attempt to overturn the penalty. Judge Sergei Samuylov ruled there were no grounds to reconsider the company's cassation appeal, effectively affirming lower-court decisions from spring 2025 that formalized the unprecedented sum.
To place the figure in context:
- 91.5 quintillion roubles (approximately $1.2 quintillion)
- A number exceeding the estimated $100 trillion global GDP, according to World Bank data
- A theoretical earlier total of 1.81 duodecillion roubles before the court capped the calculation
The roots of the dispute trace to 2020, when pro-Kremlin media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN sued Google after YouTube blocked their accounts for violating platform rules. Russian courts ordered the accounts restored. When Google declined, judges imposed a progressive penalty system starting at 100,000 roubles per day-approximately $1,300 at the time-with the fine doubling each week of noncompliance.
That exponential structure transformed a modest sanction into a mathematically escalating obligation. Over time, the accumulated amount ballooned to levels that far surpass the annual economic output of entire nations.
The case widened as additional state-aligned broadcasters-including Zvezda, Channel One and VGTRK-joined the litigation, seeking damages tied to their removal from Google-owned platforms.
Google's legal challenges unfolded against a backdrop of geopolitical rupture. Following Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Western sanctions and corporate withdrawals reshaped the technology landscape inside the country. Google suspended most of its commercial operations in Russia, including advertising sales and payment services.
By October 2023, Google's Russian subsidiary was declared bankrupt. Despite that bankruptcy, the penalties tied to the YouTube account dispute continued to accumulate under court calculations.
According to court records, the total fine was ultimately capped at the date of the subsidiary's bankruptcy ruling. Before that cap was applied, the running calculation had reached 1.81 duodecillion roubles-a figure containing 39 zeros. The court settled on the lower, though still unfathomable, amount of 91.5 quintillion roubles.
The Kremlin has framed the case as enforcement of Russian court authority against a foreign corporation. Western analysts view the ruling as largely symbolic, given the impossibility of collection and Google's limited remaining assets in Russia.
Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, has not indicated it plans to resume broad operations in Russia. The Supreme Court's refusal to reopen the appeal makes the judgment binding under Russian law, though enforcement mechanisms remain uncertain.
