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EU fines AliExpress record €550m for selling illegal goods
The European Commission said the platform often assessed product legality in “tens of seconds” and found staffing was insufficient to meet Digital Services Act obligations.
AliExpress has been hit with a record €550 million fine from the European Commission after the EU found the platform failed to stop listings for illegal and harmful products, including counterfeit items and unsafe goods such as toys and cosmetics, from being sold through its site.
The penalty is the largest issued so far under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, which took effect in 2024 and aims to protect consumers from illegal goods and deceptive or addictive marketing practices. The Commission said the problem reflected a compliance failure rather than an unavoidable cost of online shopping.
European Commission executive vice-president Henna Virkkunen said the spread of illegal and harmful products was not excusable and that scale is not an excuse, adding that AliExpress was being held to DSA standards. The EU also found the company did not have enough staff to assess whether products met EU requirements, with some checks taking only “tens of seconds.”
The Commission noted the fine is less than 1% of AliExpress’s overall revenue, and it was also compared with earlier DSA penalties for Temu of €200 million and X of €120 million. Temu is still under EU investigation on other issues, and may face further fines.