A €550 million fine, the highest ever imposed under the Digital Services Act, hits AliExpress and opens a new chapter in the European Union’s crackdown on major e-commerce platforms. The European Commission accuses the Chinese group Alibaba’s company of failing to effectively prevent the spread of illegal, counterfeit, and unsafe products, now imposing a compliance plan and setting new deadlines to avoid further penalties.
RECORD FINE UNDER THE DSA
The European Commission has imposed a €550 million fine on AliExpress for violating obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This is the highest penalty ever applied under the European digital services regulation, surpassing the €200 million fine imposed on Temu last May and the €120 million penalty issued to Elon Musk’s X the previous December.
The amount, writes the Guardian, represents less than 1% of the €122 billion revenue recorded in 2025 by parent company Alibaba, which achieved approximately $144 billion in turnover in the last fiscal year. Under the DSA, the fine could have reached up to 6% of the company’s global annual turnover.
DEFICIENCIES IDENTIFIED BY THE COMMISSION
According to Brussels, AliExpress underestimated the risk of spreading illegal, counterfeit, and unsafe products on its platform, while overestimating the effectiveness of control systems. The investigation highlights that the number of moderation staff was not proportional to the volume of required checks and that, in some cases, controllers had only “a few dozen seconds” to assess a product’s compliance with European standards.
Recommendation algorithms and advertising also allegedly favored the visibility of items later found to be non-compliant. Tests conducted by the Commission showed that numerous products continued to be suggested to users before their final removal.
PRODUCTS ONLINE FOR WEEKS AND CIRCUMVENTED CONTROLS
The issues identified concern the entire platform’s monitoring system. According to the Commission, counterfeit products, unsafe toys, and dangerous cosmetics remained online for weeks even after being detected. In other cases, sanctioned sellers continued to operate normally, and the mandatory “brand authorisation” system, designed to block the sale of counterfeit items, was easily circumvented.
Brussels also contests the possibility of bypassing controls by intentionally classifying products into incorrect categories. During inspections, the Commission claims to have identified millions of products reappearing on the platform after being removed for illegality, some of which remained online for over a month.
THE MASSIVE CHINESE PRESENCE IN THE EUROPEAN MARKET
AliExpress, notes Reuters, is the largest Chinese e-commerce platform operating in the European Union with 193 million users, ahead of Shein’s 156 million and Temu’s 130 million. According to Henna Virkkunen, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Technology, “one in five Europeans says they shop at least once a month on Shein, Temu, and AliExpress.”
The Commission, specifies the Financial Times, also highlights that over 9 out of 10 parcels imported into the European Union come from China. To contain the flow of low-value shipments, Brussels has also introduced a fixed duty of €3 for each parcel destined for e-commerce.
ALIEXPRESS’S RESPONSE AND NEXT STEPS
AliExpress has announced it will appeal the decision, calling the fine “disproportionate.” The company argues that the measure “ignores our robust risk management system and the significant proactive improvements we have introduced,” adding that it has cooperated with the Commission to meet the requests made during the investigation.
The platform must submit by October 20, 2026, a plan containing measures to strengthen the assessment and mitigation of systemic risks. Subsequently, the European Digital Services Committee will express its opinion, and the Commission will adopt the final decision, potentially imposing further periodic penalties in case of non-compliance.
