The European Union has fined the online marketplace AliExpress 550 million euros for a serious violation of the Digital Services Act. The decision was made because the platform did not take sufficient measures to prevent the sale of unsafe and counterfeit products, according to IPN.
The fine is the latest development in the formal proceedings launched in 2024 regarding a possible violation of the EU Digital Services Act. The European Commission stated that AliExpress had failed to implement an effective system for identifying and removing illegal products and had underestimated the resources needed for content moderation.
According to the European Commission, the mechanisms for verifying product compliance could be easily circumvented, with unscrupulous sellers misclassifying products to avoid stricter requirements. European authorities also argue that the platform does not have enough staff to verify suspicious products.
At the same time, the European Commission found that a large number of illegal products, including unsafe toys and hazardous cosmetics, continued to be sold through AliExpress. In some cases, these products remained available on the platform for weeks after being reported. Furthermore, the Commission found that AliExpress had not properly enforced its own penalty policy and had allegedly allowed sellers of illegal products to remain active even after they had been penalized.
AliExpress now has until October 20 to submit an action plan outlining how it will address the issues raised by the European Commission. The Commission will then decide, within two months of receiving the plan, whether additional measures are necessary.
The sanction comes after the EU introduced a three-euro fee in early July for packages valued at up to 150 euros originating from outside the EU. The measure could significantly impact the business models of the Chinese e-commerce platforms AliExpress, Temu, and Shein.
