The European Commission has fined AliExpress €550 million
The European Commission has found that AliExpress has breached the requirements of the Digital Services Act (DSA). Large online platforms must identify systemic risks to users, assess their scale and put in place effective safeguards.
According to the Commission’s findings, AliExpress failed to verify whether sufficient staff were allocated to identifying potentially illegal goods. The platform also overestimated the effectiveness of its own system for detecting and removing such listings, failing to take into account the ratio between the number of moderators and their workload.
Some of the concerns relate to advertising and recommendation algorithms. The European Commission’s investigation revealed that the system could recommend or advertise illegal goods even before they were removed from the platform.
AliExpress also used insufficient quantitative metrics to assess the performance of its moderation team. According to the regulator’s findings, the sole metric used did not make it possible to determine how effectively the platform prevented illegal goods from reappearing in a similar form.
What products remained on the platform
The European Commission found counterfeit goods, dangerous children’s toys and cosmetics on AliExpress that could pose a risk to buyers.
According to the investigation, the system for detecting illegal products was not functioning properly. Even after being identified, some products could remain available for purchase for several weeks.
The platform also failed to apply sanctions consistently enough to sellers who listed illegal products. Some shops continued to operate even after receiving penalties from AliExpress.
Sellers circumvented product checks
One way of evading scrutiny was to deliberately list products in the wrong categories. This allowed sellers to take advantage of less stringent product verification requirements.
According to the Commission’s findings, AliExpress did not allocate sufficient staff to verify the correct classification of products. The system did not always detect incorrect categorisation before a listing was published, meaning that products that did not meet the requirements could be sold freely on the platform.
The European Commission also found the system for verifying brand usage rights to be ineffective. The mechanism was intended to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods; however, due to a shortage of staff and weak oversight, sellers were able to circumvent it.
Why the fine amounts to €550 million
When determining the amount of the fine, the European Commission took into account the nature of the infringements, their duration, the seriousness of the consequences for users in the EU, and the scale of AliExpress’s operations.
The infringements continued at least until June 2025, when the Commission informed the platform of the preliminary findings of its investigation. The regulator described the inadequate risk assessment and the lack of effective measures against illegal goods as particularly serious breaches of the DSA.
At the same time, circumstances in AliExpress’s favour were also taken into account when calculating the fine. In particular, the European Commission took into account the fact that the Digital Services Act is a relatively new piece of legislation.
What AliExpress must now do
AliExpress must submit an action plan to the European Commission by 20 October 2026. In this plan, the company must outline measures to properly assess and mitigate systemic risks associated with the sale of illegal, dangerous and counterfeit products.
The European Digital Services Board will have one month from receipt of the document to issue its opinion. The European Commission will then have a further month to adopt a final decision and set a deadline for the implementation of the proposed measures.
If AliExpress fails to comply with the decision, periodic penalty payments may be imposed on the company. The European Commission will continue to monitor compliance with the DSA requirements.
How the investigation unfolded
The European Commission launched a formal investigation into AliExpress on 14 March 2024. It focused on risk assessment and mitigation, content moderation, complaint handling, transparency in advertising and recommendation systems, vendor verification, and researchers’ access to data.
On 18 June 2025, the Commission made a number of commitments proposed by AliExpress binding. These related to the mechanism for reporting infringements, responding to complaints, advertising transparency and the operation of recommendation algorithms.
However, the commitments did not cover two key allegations — inadequate assessment of systemic risks and insufficient measures to combat the distribution of illegal products. It was these breaches that formed the basis for the fine.
The decision is based on AliExpress’s risk assessment reports for 2023 and 2024, additional data from the platform, information from third parties, and the results of the European Commission’s own investigations. The regulator also took into account the company’s responses to official requests dated 6 November 2023 and 18 January 2024.
Hanna Wirkkunen, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, stated that the platform’s scale cannot justify the distribution of counterfeit clothing, dangerous toys, cosmetics and other harmful goods. According to her, AliExpress must systematically identify such risks and protect consumers when shopping online.
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