Google has lost its final appeal in Russia, with the Supreme Court upholding a fine larger than all the money on Earth.
The Russia’s Supreme Court has officially upheld an astronomical fine against tech giant Google. The court rejected the company’s final appeal on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, confirming that Google must pay a staggering 91.5 quintillion rubles—roughly $1.2 quintillion.
To put that number in perspective, the fine is about a million times larger than the entire world’s annual economic output.
It is a sum so massive that it technically exceeds all the physical and digital currency currently in existence on the planet.
The legal war began back in 2020. Several pro-Kremlin media outlets, including Tsargrad TV and RIA FAN, sued Google after their channels were blocked on YouTube.
The Russian courts originally ordered Google to bring the channels back online within nine months or face daily fines.
What started as a relatively small penalty of 100,000 rubles per day quickly turned into a financial monster. The court’s ruling allowed the fine to double every single week with no upper limit.
By the time Google’s Russian subsidiary declared bankruptcy in late 2023, the debt had snowballed into the quintillions.
Despite the scary numbers, Google appears to be keeping its cool. In its latest communications, the company stated that these legal battles would not have a "material impact" on its global operations. Since Google has largely pulled its business out of Russia already, the fine remains mostly on paper.
Even the Kremlin admits the figure is more about sending a message than actually collecting the cash. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov previously described the fine as "symbolic," noting that it was designed to force Google’s management to stop restricting Russian broadcasters.
For now, the Supreme Court's decision marks the end of the road for Google’s legal options within Russia. While the tech giant continues to operate globally, this case stands as a record-breaking example of the ongoing tension between Western tech firms and Russian authorities.
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