Brussels – The European Commission has imposed a massive fine of 550 million on AliExpress, the well-known global marketplace owned by the Chinese giant Alibaba, for breaching the obligations set out in the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European legislation requiring large online platforms to prevent and limit the spread of illegal content and products. This is the highest fine ever imposed by the European Commission for breaches of the DSA. According to the European Commission, AliExpress failed to comply with “its obligation to assess risks relating to the dissemination of illegal products on its e-commerce platform” and did not even take effective measures in this regard.
The decision comes at the end of an investigation launched in March 2024 and represents one of the most significant measures taken to date under the DSA – along with the one against Temu. The Commission criticised AliExpress for its inadequate assessment of the platform’s systemic risks, also highlighting the insufficient number of staff dedicated to content moderation, the ineffectiveness of automated systems for detecting illegal products, and controls that could easily be circumvented by sellers.
According to Brussels, AliExpress did not use quantitative metrics in its assessment, relying instead on a single quantitative indicator that, however, did not adequately measure the effectiveness of its moderation system in preventing illegal products from appearing or reappearing in similar forms. Consequently, a high volume of illegal products continued to circulate despite AliExpress’s moderation efforts.
With regard to the implementation of risk-reduction measures, the Commission found that AliExpress’s system for identifying illegal products was not functioning properly and that many counterfeit items, non-compliant toys, and potentially dangerous cosmetics remained available on the platform for weeks after being identified by the monitoring systems. Furthermore, the mechanism for imposing sanctions on traders who breached the rules was reportedly applied inadequately, allowing numerous sellers to continue operating.
As stated in the European Commission’s decision, furthermore, “ product compliance checks could be easily circumvented through miscategorisation of products,” and AliExpress “allocated insufficient staff to verify whether products are correctly categorised, and the controls put in place failed to detect the miscategorised products before publication.” Finally, “AliExpress failed to adequately prevent the spread of counterfeit products”, and its “mandatory ‘brand authorisation’ system – intended to prevent counterfeit sales – proved ineffective and understaffed.”
The fine’s entity was determined by taking into account the seriousness of the infringements, the number of European users affected, and the duration of the infringements, which continued at least until June 2025. Despite the substantial fine, it still amounts to less than 1 per cent of its parent company Alibaba’s turnover of 120 billion euros. The Commission did, however, recognise certain mitigating circumstances, including the relative novelty of the regulatory framework introduced by the DSA.
AliExpress has until 20 October 2026 to submit an action plan detailing the measures needed to comply with the obligations set out in EU legislation. Should it fail to comply with the decision, the platform risks further fines. According to Brussels, the measure sends a strong signal from the European Union to large digital platforms and confirms its determination to rigorously enforce the new rules to ensure greater consumer protection and fairer competition in online commerce.
In a press release, AliExpress contested the move by Brussels. “We do not agree with today’s decision or this disproportionate fine, which reflects neither our long-standing principles nor the significant and proactive measures we have implemented,” the company explained, not specifying whether it would appeal against the fine.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
