Kremlin Says It Hopes $20.6 Decillion Fine Got Google's Attention (yahoo.com) 71
An enormous fine levied by a Russian court on Google caught the attention of the Kremlin -- which hopes Google will notice in turn. From a report: President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, commented on the sum on Thursday. It came after a court demanded payment equivalent of $20.6 decillion -- an almost incomprehensible figure that exceeds the world's GDP. The sum came from a penalty for suspending the YouTube accounts of various Russian outlets. It has been regularly doubling for years, with no limit, leading it into realms of the absurd, which Peskov seemed to acknowledge. "Although it is a specific amount, I cannot even pronounce this number, it is rather filled with symbolism," said Peskov in response to a question from NBC News.
Attention...as in a good chuckle over drinks (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think anyone at Google is taking this seriously. Russia knows the media will eat up getting to print a really big number, that's all.
Re:Attention...as in a good chuckle over drinks (Score:4, Funny)
Well, Google could just end up trolling Russia by causing every query and youtube video return "Badger Badger Badger".
Re: (Score:3)
http://pete.ex-parrot.com/upsi... [ex-parrot.com]
Re: (Score:2)
http://pete.ex-parrot.com/upsi... [ex-parrot.com]
I forgot about this, thank you for posting it!
Numerical overflow (Score:3)
Re:Numerical overflow (Score:4, Insightful)
I was once shooting "double or nothing" basketball hoops with a classmate and had a losing streak.
I owed him $20, but I didn't have $20. So I kept playing.
Eventually, I owed him a million dollars. Like, sure, whatever.
When it was $20, it was my problem. When it was a million dollars, it was his problem.
Likewise, a 20-decillion fine isn't Google's problem.
Re: (Score:3)
Google is waiting for the fine to double enough times to brag that they got fined a googol.
/. yuo fail it! (Score:2)
Yeah, it certainly got our attention (Score:5, Funny)
Symbolic? Maybe, but not in the way they think.
Re: (Score:1)
We think itâ(TM)s funny.
Symbolic? Maybe, but not in the way they think.
Perhaps Google should send a symbolic payment.
Does the symbol of a middle finger have the same meaning in Russia?
Russian Warship Go... (Score:2)
Does the symbol of a middle finger have the same meaning in Russia?
It does, see the official stamp: https://www.rmg.co.uk/national... [rmg.co.uk]
Re: Russian Warship Go... (Score:2)
Poor ship ended up fucking itself.
Re: (Score:2)
Print two $20 decillion bills and stamp them "No Change Given when used".
Re: (Score:2)
print one 50 decillion bill and ask for change in quarters
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps Google should send a symbolic payment.
I was thinking the same thing, only it should be a check for 20.6 decillion US dollars. Everyone who sees it will have a laugh as it passes through the banking system, and then bounces to the moon.
That said, I suppose it would be a bad idea for Google to write a bad check, or even implicitly assent to Russia's judgement by doing so.
I also keep thinking of Russia doing a Dr. Evil pose on this. This judgement exceeds the total amount of money that has ever existed in the history of human economies, by many, m
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking the same thing, only it should be a check for 20.6 decillion US dollars. Everyone who sees it will have a laugh as it passes through the banking system, and then bounces to the moon.
It would be a bad idea. Google's local business unit within Russia that would owe the fine went bankrupt and ceased doing business. And Google does not do any business in Russia - companies there cannot purchase AdSense ads, etc. As a result Russia has no jurisdiction over the parent company Alphabet and
Re: (Score:2)
I was actually thinking it'd be funny if they entered it into their system, had an overflow error, and ended up depositing their entire GDP into Google's account.
Re: (Score:1)
I've heard that the Russian economy is weeks away from total collapse for years, even before the "Special Military Operation".
What I do see is that they are part of a parallel world group called BRICS which has a GDP that surpassed the G7 years ago.
The BRICS member states seem to be able to improve significantly in manufacturing quality (Chinese EVs are a bigger threat to the traditional US and European car manufacturers than Tesla ever was), while some of the high tech manufacturing in the US is struggling
Re:Yeah, it certainly got our attention (Score:4, Informative)
What is NK able to give Russia? It has no economy to speak of. It certainly doesn't have any currency reserves. As for its army, they'll get killed just as readily as the Russians have been these past 2+ years. The only experience they'll gain is how to die on a modern battlefield.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
What is NK able to give Russia?
They might be looking for an equitable trade. Bodies now. Support from Russia some time later down the road for an invasion of SK which would be after Putin finishes conquering the Ukraine for himself: That is if he does, which we hope he
is not victorious in, since the consequences for the world are dire if Putin does win that war.
.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Most people totally misunderstand US sanctions. We dont have the power to collapse anyone’s economy. That’s not in the cards. When a country gets hit with US sanctions, it’s like half their oxyge
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
> The BRICS gdp is a third of the G7
BRICS GDP surpassed G7 GDP around 2020. Sources:
- https://www.visualcapitalist.c... [visualcapitalist.com]
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
> I’ve haven’t heard anyone say Russia is about to collapse
2022:
- https://theconversation.com/th... [theconversation.com]
- https://www.aljazeera.com/opin... [aljazeera.com]
Now we are seeing articles showing that Russia's economy is much better than expected:
- January 2024: https://moneyweek.com/economy/... [moneyweek.com]
- April 2024: https://www.bbc.com/news/busin... [bbc.com]
I really have no sympath
Re: (Score:2)
Inflation in Russia isn't currently too bad, at 8-9%, but the only reason it's not blowing up is because the central bank has boosted their equivalent of the prime lending rate to 18%. Eventually they won't be able to sustain ever-higher interest rates, at which point inflation will become extreme.
It's up to 21% now [nytimes.com]
Potatoes are up over 50% since the start of the year.
Straight out of Austin Powers (Score:3)
Because 100 billion dollars was already taken? (Score:2, Redundant)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
They got Google's attention... (Score:2)
Not quite the effect they're hoping for (Score:5, Insightful)
This 'symbolic' fine isn't impressing me with Russian resolve. Rather it is showing just how little Google cares about Russian business if obeying these laws are a related cost.
Compare Canada to Russia. We're a resource economy too. We have fewer people. Our economy is significantly larger and we're not invading other countries to rob them of our wealth to prop ourselves up a bit longer.
Russia seemed to have hope for a while, but squandered it building a gangster kleptocracy. It should be shunned by civilization until it can get its act together.
Re:Not quite the effect they're hoping for (Score:4, Funny)
It's less that, and how Russia plans on fixing its economy once it fully collapses. Google will just inject in a bunch of money back in and Russia will be good again!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Think about why, though; if Russia weren't always trying to conquer and exploit the nations on its borders, maybe it could have a relationship with Europe like Canada does with the US.
Just wait it out. (Score:2)
Eventually the rate of inflation will exceed "doubling every day" and the fine can be paid off for the equivalent of $20.
"Ten million bakshees! In American money, ten cents!" (from a Felix the Cat cartoon)
Re: (Score:2)
They're not in a state of hyperinflation YET, but there's a very real risk that they will be. Soldier sign-up bonuses keep increasing, and they keep cranking up the interest rate which is now well in excess of 20%. All the signs are there. I hope for the sake of the Russian population that something else ends their isolation first, but there's only one person to blame for it and it's not changing until that person gets changed (and maybe not even then).
So Google will just double down? (Score:2)
If the penalty is so absurd that you canâ(TM)t pay, at what point is it just a big FU, that Google would just geoblock Russia?
does Google have any infrastructure in Russia? (Score:2)
does Google have any infrastructure in Russia?
if so they can just see all it be taken over by russia.
Re:does Google have any infrastructure in Russia? (Score:5, Interesting)
does Google have any infrastructure in Russia?
The article answers this:
In 2022, Google's Russian legal arm, Google LLC, filed for bankruptcy, and authorities seized its bank accounts. Little is left in Russia for its legal system to pursue.
So: yes, or at least they did. As of now, Google has no presence in Russia, and this fine seems more likely to guarantee Google stays out of Russia than Google unblocks Russian content.
Got jokes? (Score:2)
The Kremlin better pray google doesn't decide to be mean and poison data about Russia. It'll just take a few days to cause havoc.
Re: (Score:2)
How would they know if Google was the one to do it? They have plenty of enemies willing to badmouth them.
Reality (Score:5, Informative)
The reality is that the Kremlin's utter idiocy and lies have caught people's attention.
Idiocy is demanding something from the company that left the country for good over two years ago.
Lies is to expect them to pay a penny when YouTube was effectively banned/blocked in Russia two months ago and you cannot watch any videos without VPN.
Double lying is saying that Google is somehow preventing Russians from watching YouTube, when in fact you have 1) throttled it to 128Kbps (that's kilobits per second, a little faster than modem speed back in the 90s), rendering it inoperable 2) You've sent very threatening letters to Russian ISPs who have tried to override the throttling.
Re:Reality (Score:5, Interesting)
Sadly the West has paid zero attention to this miserable fact.
Source: just Google it up (preferably in Russian). There's very little information about this in English.
Oh, wait, I've found it, Washington Post actually has a news article about this: https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
What's even worse is that the Russian "alternatives" such as VK videos have been caught downloading thousands of copyrighted YouTube videos and offering them locally. Of course, the original content creators will not get a penny for their work: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2... [meduza.io]
The country has basically legalized piracy of Western media content, software and hardware (you can officially buy Intel/AMD CPUs, NVIDIA/AMD GPUs, iPhones, Qualcomm-based smartphones, etc.). - all of which are forbidden to be exported to Russia - Kazakhstan has happily helped Russia in this): https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
Re: (Score:3)
"Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country." -- John McCain
Re: (Score:2)
The way I understand it, the Russians are sort of a combination of evil and incompetence... sort of like the Post Office with tanks. -- comedian Emo Philips
How will they enforce this "fine"? (Score:2)
Google is incorporated in a country which provides certain constitutional rights to people; Including corporations formed here.
One of those rights is a prohibition against excessive fines found in the 8th amendment.
Sometimes there can be some debate as to what is excessive; However, I think most judges would end up agreeing that 20 decillion obviously is. Therefore, it is doubtful that any collection action can successfully be made on that fine - the Russians would likely be laughed out of court upon
Block everything Russian, (Score:3)
Not “almost”, stupid. IS. (Score:3)
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, commented on the sum on Thursday. It came after a court demanded payment equivalent of $20.6 decillion -- an almost incomprehensible figure that exceeds the world's GDP..
Since that number lives in the finance world, it IS an incomprehensible figure. It’s also implausible, impossible, and insane.
They got the attention of Google alright. Google hasn’t stopped laughing for days. Neither has the rest of the exceeds-GDP-world.
Dr. Evils demands, were literally more plausible. Let that sink in, Russia.
They just messed up the currency conversion (Score:3)
It's not even a Googol (Score:2)
Dollars vs. rubles (Score:2)
What's the difference between a dollar and a ruble?
About 99 cents.
Don't know how to pronounce it? (Score:3)
\o/ (Score:2)
Couldn't they just sell the organs of everyone they're murdering every day? That would surely help a bit?
What this tells about Russia (Score:3)
1. Absence of separation of powers When the the executive (the Kremlin's spokesperson) comments on the judiciary decision, or when it is made clear that the purpose of a justice decision is to get someone's attention for the Kremlin, then this illustrates how Russia's justice system isn't independent from the executive.
2. Absence of care for the effectiveness of justice A fine 2.10^19 times the world's GDP can't be correlated to any damage, and can't be applied. Justice isn't supposed to be useless exercise. If Russia wanted the attention of Google, they'd made the fine painful but payable. Such that Google would have to pay it, and would be careful next time. Making the fine impossible to pay, is making sure google won't do anything about it (ignore it, or wait for a regime change)
3. "Nuclear" threats all the way Threatening with something much larger than the world itself only reminds me with the nuclear threats Russia has been doing in the recent conflict. It's a their trope of chest-banging gorilla.
Wait till the fine is a Googol! (Score:2)
If I worked for Google I would make a fine increment timer and put it on the wall...
Da Komrade (Score:3)
World is laughing at you.
Lesson is do not make demands you cannot enforce -it just lets everyone know you are impotent.
Re: (Score:2)
Rule #0 of being in charge is "don't make unenforceable rules". At best, it creates a two-tier system of rules that get applied and rules that don't. More likely, it is as you say -- you just look powerless.
Russia is a joke ... (Score:2)
Russia is a comically failed State.. (Score:3)
This so-called 'court ruling' is just more sad comedy, highlighting how utterly failed Russia and Putin are.
Every word that comes out of Russia now sounds like an extremely angry elderly chihuahua visciously yapping, signifying nothing.
Russian citizens, defenestrate Putin and take your country back. Honestly, if you can manage to have a leader and government that isn't rotten to the core and corrupt as fuck, we might just start being nice to you.
Re: Russia is a comically failed State.. (Score:2)
May the monsters they are creating eat them alive (Score:2)
https://www.hrw.org/legacy/rep... [hrw.org]
Cruelty in Russian orphanages
They are breeding future serial killers
Russia is a joke (Score:1)