European Commission imposes record €550 million fine on AliExpress for DSA breaches
Regulators cite inadequate staffing and screening processes that allowed millions of dangerous items to remain on the platform, prompting a strong rebuttal from Alibaba-owned AliExpress.
The European Commission has levied a record €550 million ($629 million) fine against Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress for breaching the Digital Services Act. The penalty, announced by EC Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, marks the largest enforcement action taken under the bloc’s digital regulations to date. The regulator determined that the platform failed to adequately police the spread of illegal and unsafe products, allowing millions of counterfeit clothing items, unsafe toys, and dangerous cosmetics to remain available to consumers.
The investigation, which commenced in March 2024, scrutinised AliExpress’s advertising and recommendation systems alongside its product screening mechanisms. Investigators found that the platform lacked sufficient staff to perform proper oversight, with some employees allotted merely tens of seconds to assess whether products met EU safety standards. Despite these items being flagged, the EC concluded that AliExpress did not take sufficient measures to stop the sale of goods that posed risks to consumers.
Virkkunen emphasised that the scale of the operation did not excuse the regulatory failures. "Scale is not an excuse; risks must be identified and addressed systematically to ensure consumers can safely shop online," she stated in a press release. The commission highlighted that the lack of diligence was not only dangerous for shoppers but also created an unfair competitive landscape for companies that fully comply with EU rules.
AliExpress, which is owned by Alibaba, has strongly contested the ruling. The platform condemned the fine as disproportionate, arguing that the decision did not adequately reflect its established compliance framework or the proactive enhancements it had implemented. In a statement provided to The Guardian, AliExpress confirmed it was carefully reviewing the decision and considering all available options, though it did not explicitly confirm whether it would launch a formal appeal.
This enforcement action follows a similar precedent set in May, when the European Commission fined competitor Temu €200 million ($232 million) for comparable breaches of the Digital Services Act. The regulatory environment for major e-commerce platforms in the EU has intensified significantly, with previous findings indicating that up to 65 percent of cosmetics, 63 percent of food supplements, and 60 percent of personal protection equipment on platforms such as Shein, Temu, and AliExpress were non-compliant with safety standards.
