The world’s courts are getting more political

A Russian court fined Google $20 decillion — that’s 20 with 33 zeros added on — for removing Russian TV channels from YouTube. The largely symbolic penalty, more than the world’s total GDP, shows how courts around the world are becoming more nationalistic, with global companies caught in the crosshairs, Bloomberg reported.

“Legal systems are becoming battlegrounds in geopolitical conflicts,” one international lawyer said. Russia has been accused of weaponizing its courts to retaliate against Western sanctions, while some UK courts have issued counter-rulings, ordering Russian judges to halt proceedings. Such legal messiness could start a trend of cases being fought in neutral countries instead, and could influence how — or whether — large companies do business in Russia.