As a seasoned gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I can’t help but feel a mix of amusement and concern regarding this latest turn of events involving Google. On one hand, it’s laughable to think that a fine of such astronomical proportions could potentially bankrupt a tech giant like Google. On the other hand, it’s troubling to see freedom of speech being threatened in such a dramatic fashion.
Currently, Google faces a significant fine from Russia, which has grown to an astonishing 2.5 decillion dollars over the past few years. To put that into perspective, it’s 2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 dollars when written out with all thirty-three zeroes. In Russian Rubles, it’s equivalent to 2 undecillion Rubles. The massive penalty was imposed on Google due to the company restricting pro-Kremlin propaganda channels on YouTube, its video-sharing platform.
Four years ago, as reported by PC Gamer through RCB, Russia initially imposed a fine of 100,000 Rubles on media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN following their successful lawsuits over YouTube’s channel restrictions. Under Russian law, this fine multiplied weekly if left unpaid, eventually doubling. These channels were under the management of the Patriot Media Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who passed away last year in a puzzling mid-air explosion following his brief uprising against the Russian military leadership.
The original fine has grown to an amount far beyond what even tech giant Google, with assets exceeding $300 billion as of June 2024, can reasonably pay off. Even if they were to sell every YouTube Premium subscription they could muster, which amounts to trillions, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to cover the fine. Given the circumstances, it’s highly improbable that Google will ever pay this fine or sell enough subscriptions. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Google ceased advertising in the country and its Russian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine significantly affected several games under production, but none more so than STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. After a challenging phase in development, the end is now in sight. Originating once more within the Exclusion Zone surrounding the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, the game will debut on PC and Xbox Series X|S on November 20th.
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2024-10-30 17:08