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Russian court imposes 38,000 dollars fine on Google for non-compliance

Russia has for several years ordered foreign technology platforms to remove content it deems illegal

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian district court fined Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google 3.8 million roubles ($38,057) on Monday for failing to remove banned content.

Russia has for several years ordered foreign technology platforms to remove content it deems illegal, issuing small, but persistent fines when it sees failures to comply. 

Earlier this month, Google reportedly racked up a fine of more than two undecillion rubles - two followed by 36 zeros - after it removed state-run and pro-government accounts from YouTube.

Put another way, an undecillion is a trillion times a trillion times a trillion.

The fine is far greater than the world's total GDP, estimated at $110 trillion by the International Monetary Fund.

Google - which owns YouTube - has a current stock market value of $2.16 trillion, so probably won't be stumping up the cash any time soon.

The fine is also still growing due to non-payment and, if not paid within nine months, will start to double every day, reported state news agency Tass.

The mind-boggling amount has grown because Google hasn't restored YouTube accounts belonging to 17 Russian TV channels, according to Russia's RBC News.

It claims a judge in the case said at a hearing on 28 October that he was considering "a case in which there are many, many zeros".

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