a fine of 2 undecillion rubles for Google, Downey Jr.’s war on neural networks and new rules for bloggers
Hi all! This is a new selection of noteworthy news from the world of IT and technology. We look at the loudest headlines in the Russian media, remember the funniest topics of the week and try to sort out the most important phenomena. Nothing serious – just a digest of interesting news for those who do not have time to follow them on weekdays.
Russian TV channels demand 2 undecillion rubles from Google
This story began back in 2020, when YouTube blocked the accounts of the Tsargrad and RIA FAN TV channels. They began to legally demand that Google, which owns YouTube, return the accounts. The Russian court sided with the plaintiffs. In 2022, YouTube blocked the accounts of a number of Russian TV channels, including First and State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.
As a result, 17 channels are now demanding their accounts be returned. The court imposed a progressive fine on Google – 100 thousand for each day of failure to comply with the requirements in favor of the plaintiffs. Moreover, the amount of the fine doubles every week until the court decision is implemented. As a result, as of October 28, the amount of claims has already reached 2 undecillion. This is a number with 36 zeros, it looks like this:
2 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
Experts have already calculated that this amount is greater than all the wealth in the world. The universal capital of humanity, according to Boston Consulting Groupamounts to 477 trillion dollars or 46.6 quadrillion rubles. This amount is much less than the fine that Russian TV channels are demanding from Google.
25% of Google code is written by AI
Google has been in the headlines several times over the past week. Another interesting news is related to the statement of Google CEO Sundar Pichai. In a report on the results of the third quarter of 2024, he said that 25% of the new code that is written internally is created using AI. Artificial intelligence writes code and then developers validate it.
The State Services team suggested users to refuse gmail
The other day, some users of State Services whose accounts are linked to gmail mailboxes received a letter with an offer to change their email address. The reason given in the newsletter is that Google limits SMS messaging for Russia when creating new accounts.
“We cannot guarantee that this feature will continue to work for existing accounts. Protect your account”write the authors of the newsletter.
True, earlier they wrote in the mediathat Google’s problems seemed to be temporary and were observed not only in Russia. What should we do? Are we changing?
A “census” of bloggers has begun in Russia
Again, last week a form for registering bloggers appeared on State Services. It must be filled out by those whose channels have more than 10 thousand subscribers. The data is included in the Roskomndzor register within ten days. Next, the channel author must place in the description a unique link to the corresponding entry in the list.
We are talking about social networks that are included in the register of social networks of Roskomnadzor:
From January 1, it will be possible to place advertisements only in those channels that are included in the relevant register. At the same time, blocked social networks, including Twitter (or rather X) and Discord, did not seem to be included in the list. But that's why they are blocked. It is still unclear what will happen to them.
Detailed instructions at t—zh.
Downey Jr. against neural networks
Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr., who played Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, said in an interview that he would sue every company that wants to recreate his image on the silver screen using AI without his consent.
The journalist who spoke with him hinted that film companies would probably be interested in using his appearance in the future. The actor said that he would not allow this either during his life or after his death. The last point he revealed was that even when he dies, his company will continue to protect his rights.
As it turns out, the actor who played advanced software developer Tony Stark is generally critical of the influence of technology corporations on the film industry.
