Utopian punishment for Google: German media shares Russia propaganda

A Russian court has sentenced Google to pay an unpayable fine. The reason: The US company had previously blocked some Russian propaganda channels on YouTube. The Kremlin itself describes the punishment as symbolic, yet numerous media outlets eagerly share Russia propaganda. A comment.

“Google owes Russia 20 quintrillion dollars”, “It will be expensive” or “Putin’s Kremlin wants 20 quintrillion US dollars”: this or something similar was the headline in some German-language media after a Russian court fined Google around 20 quintrillion US dollars -Dollar has condemned.

This is a number with 34 zeros: 20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. This amount is not only a multiple of Google's value, but also a multiple of global economic output per year.

The penalty is therefore unpayable – and the Kremlin admits that. This means it won’t be expensive for Google. The company doesn't owe Russia $20 quintrillion, and not even the Kremlin itself seems to be serious about the sum.

Google blocks Russian propaganda channels on YouTube

As the Moscow Times According to reports, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the punishment against Google as symbolic at a reporter briefing. Accordingly, he could not even express this, even though it was “a concrete, formulated sum”.

The background: Google parent company Alphabet had already blocked some Russian propaganda channels on YouTube in 2020. A Russian court then ordered the company to restore the channels. For every day that Google does not comply with the demand, the US company should pay a fine of around $1,000. The daily penalty would also double every week.

With the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which violated international law, Google blocked other Russian propaganda channels on YouTube – including “RT”, formerly “Russia Today”, and “One Russia”, a semi-state television channel.

Sea Moscow Times The affected companies behind the accounts all successfully took action against the blocking in court – at least in Russia and from a Russian perspective. However, Google has not reactivated the channels. The penalty would therefore now amount to the ridiculous sum of 20 quintillion US dollars – as compensation, so to speak.

Penalty against Google: German media shares Russia propaganda

Admittedly, many media outlets explain in their articles that the punishment imposed by Russia is unaffordable. Some even noticed that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described it as symbolic. Nevertheless, scandal and sensational headlines dominate the German-speaking media landscape.

But in doing so, numerous magazines and newspapers are becoming Russia's stirrup holders. Because hardly anyone asks why, the reason why Russia is demanding this absurd fine – knowing that Google will never be able to pay it.

The answer is obvious. It's about attention. Even Kremlin spokesman Peskov admits this – at least as far as Google is concerned. Incidentally, the company itself does not fear any damage and is looking forward to the matter calmly. But the Kremlin wants to exert pressure to regain its propaganda channels – to spread lies, whitewash the war and put it into perspective.

And that requires attention. Attention that Russia is now receiving, especially from the German-speaking press, in order to place its classic perpetrator-victim reversal in people's minds. Unfortunately, the Kremlin succeeded. Because headlines that generate clicks – and ultimately sales – are apparently more important to many media than truth and education. An indictment of “journalism”.

A notice: This article is a commentary. This is a journalistic form of presentationwhich explicitly reflects the opinion of the author and not the entire magazine. The comment does not claim to be objective, but is intended to stimulate the formation of opinions and is protected as an opinion piece by Article 5 of the Basic Law.

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