EU Fines AliExpress €550 Million for Violating Digital Services Act

The European Commission has fined the online retail platform AliExpress €550 million for violations of the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA). The regulator determined that the company failed to provide adequate protection for users against the sale of illegal, hazardous, and counterfeit products.

The investigation, whose results were released on July 14, revealed that AliExpress inadequately assessed risks related to the distribution of prohibited goods on its platform. Specifically, the company overestimated the effectiveness of its moderation systems, did not allocate sufficient staff for product checks, and failed to account for the influence of recommendation algorithms and advertising that promoted illegal items.

According to the Commission, counterfeit goods, dangerous toys, and cosmetics continued to be sold on the platform, and even after detection, such products often remained available for several more weeks. The regulator also found that AliExpress punished violating sellers ineffectively—many continued trading banned products even after sanctions were applied. Safety compliance checks proved easy to circumvent by intentionally misclassifying product categories.

In determining the fine amount, the Commission considered the nature of the violations, their impact on EU users, and their duration—the infringements continued at least until June 2025. Mitigating circumstances were also taken into account. AliExpress must submit a plan to remedy the identified violations by October 20, 2026. If the company fails to comply, it may face additional periodic penalty payments.

The formal investigation into AliExpress began in March 2024 and focused on compliance with DSA requirements in areas such as risk assessment, content moderation, transparency of advertising and recommendation algorithms, seller vetting, and researcher access to data. AliExpress has not yet commented.