The European Commission has fined AliExpress €550 million ($629 million) for breaching its obligations under the Digital Services Act, finding that the Chinese e-commerce platform failed to diligently assess and mitigate risks relating to the sale of illegal, unsafe and counterfeit products. The penalty is the largest yet issued under the DSA and follows formal proceedings launched by the Commission in 2024 over a potential breach of the regulation.
The Commission identified multiple systemic failures in AliExpress's approach to platform safety. Investigators found the company had overestimated the effectiveness of its systems for detecting and removing illegal products and had not properly evaluated whether it had sufficient staff to review risks. The Commission also determined that AliExpress's penalty policy for defaulting sellers was ineffective, allowing penalised stores to continue selling illegal products. Its mandatory 'brand authorisation' system, intended to prevent counterfeit sales, was found to be understaffed and easily circumvented by traders selling fake goods. In some cases, illegal products including unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics remained online for weeks after being flagged. The Commission said the novelty of the Digital Services Act was a mitigating factor in calculating the fine, which could otherwise have been higher.
AliExpress said it disagreed with the decision and called the fine disproportionate, adding that it was carefully reviewing the ruling and considering all available options. The Commission has ordered AliExpress to submit an action plan by 20 October 2026 outlining how it will address the concerns identified. Failure to comply with the non-compliance decision may lead to periodic penalty payments. EU Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen noted that AliExpress had 193 million users in Europe last year, compared with Shein's 156 million and Temu's 130 million [Source: RTE].
AliExpress is a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BABA and on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under 9988.HK. Under the Digital Services Act, the EU's flagship law for regulating online platforms, serious breaches can in theory cost a platform up to 6% of its global annual turnover. The AliExpress fine follows the Commission's €200 million penalty against Chinese marketplace Temu in May 2026 for failing to properly assess and mitigate risks posed by illegal products on its platform, and a €120 million fine against Elon Musk's social media platform X in December 2025 over breaches of the DSA's transparency rules. Shein remains under an ongoing DSA probe by the Commission. The fine also comes as the EU recently introduced a €3 flat duty on parcels worth less than €150, which had previously entered the bloc duty-free, a move expected to affect the business models of Chinese online retailers including AliExpress, Shein and Temu.
Sources: European Commission, Bloomberg, The Guardian, RTE, Euronews, Türkiye Today