The European Commission imposed a €550m penalty on AliExpress, marking the largest fine issued under Digital Services Act legislation. The enforcement action addressed the platform’s systematic failure to prevent illegal products from being sold to consumers, including counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics, and other non-compliant goods.
The commission’s investigation revealed significant operational deficiencies in AliExpress’s compliance framework. The company did not maintain sufficient staff to assess whether products met EU standards, with some items receiving only tens of seconds of review. The platform’s recommendation systems actively promoted illegal goods, and internal risk assessments proved inadequate. Commission officials found that millions of products flagged as illegal remained online for extended periods, sometimes longer than a month, demonstrating a failure to implement effective removal mechanisms.
AliExpress’s stated terms and conditions appeared compliant with EU requirements prohibiting illegal sales, but the commission determined that sellers could easily circumvent protections by miscategorizing items or exploiting other loopholes. Testing revealed widespread non-compliance despite the company’s claims of operating within the EU’s safety gate system for product alerts. The investigation, which lasted more than two years, provided the company an opportunity to address deficiencies, but AliExpress did not implement sufficient remedial measures.
While substantial, the €550m fine represented less than 1% of annual revenue for AliExpress’s parent company, Alibaba. The penalty significantly exceeded previous fines under DSA legislation, including €200m imposed on Temu and €120m on X. AliExpress immediately contested the decision as disproportionate and announced plans to appeal. The platform operates as the largest Chinese online retailer in the EU, serving approximately 193 million users.