The European Union has imposed a record €550 million fine on AliExpress, the Chinese online retail platform, for failing to stop the sale of illegal, unsafe, and counterfeit products. The penalty, announced on Monday, is the largest ever issued under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force in 2024.
European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen said in a statement: “The spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and other illegal and harmful products is not an unavoidable cost of shopping online – it is a failure by AliExpress to comply with its obligations under the Digital Services Act.” She added: “Scale is not an excuse; risks must be identified and addressed systematically to ensure consumers can safely shop online.”
The Commission’s investigation, launched in March 2024, found that AliExpress, owned by Chinese tech group Alibaba, did not have enough staff to assess the legality of products, with inspectors sometimes having only “tens of seconds” to judge whether a product met EU standards. It also found that many illegal products were promoted through AliExpress’s recommendation systems before being removed, and that when illegal goods were detected, they often remained online for several weeks.
The fine is the largest under the DSA to date, surpassing the €200 million penalty issued to Temu in May and the €120 million fine imposed on X in December last year. However, at less than 1% of AliExpress’s overall revenue, it is far below the maximum possible penalty of 6% of the company’s global turnover.
AliExpress, which has 193 million users in the EU, said it will appeal the fine, calling it “disproportionate.” The company said the EU’s decision “ignores our sound risk management framework and the significant, proactive enhancements we have made.”
AliExpress has until October 20 to submit a plan to address the breaches. EU regulators will review the plan, and the company could face further penalties if the measures are deemed insufficient. A year ago, AliExpress agreed to tighten controls on illegal and potentially dangerous goods, such as medicines and supplements, but the Commission said those measures did not fully resolve its broader concerns.
The Commission also found that AliExpress failed in some cases to penalize traders selling illegal products, allowing them to continue operating on the platform. Previous EU investigations have found non-compliant products on other large retail platforms, and Temu remains under investigation on other issues and may face another fine.