The European Commission has imposed a hefty €550 million fine on e-commerce platform AliExpress, highlighting significant failures in risk assessment related to illegal and counterfeit products sold on its marketplace.
In a decisive move, the commission found that AliExpress breached obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), primarily due to its inadequate risk assessments and ineffective measures to curb the circulation of prohibited goods. The investigation revealed that the platform did not realistically evaluate its capacity to review potentially illegal products, overstating the effectiveness of its systems designed for identifying and removing such items.
Aliexpress: Failures in Moderation and Enforcement
The inquiry pointed out a stark imbalance between the number of human moderators and the volume of content requiring review. Testing conducted by commission services indicated that numerous illegal products were recommended or advertised to consumers before being taken down from the platform.
Moreover, AliExpress was found to have relied on insufficient quantitative indicators for risk assessment. The commission noted that its moderation systems did not effectively prevent illegal products from resurfacing on the platform. Despite AliExpress’ claims of having robust moderation efforts, evidence showed that significant numbers of illegal items continued to circulate.
Critical Gaps in Product Compliance Checks
AliExpress faced criticism for its failure to enforce penalties against traders selling illegal products. The commission revealed that the platform’s penalty policy was poorly implemented, allowing shops that had been penalised to keep operating. This failure extended to product compliance checks, which could be easily circumvented through incorrect categorisation of goods.
The investigation highlighted that AliExpress allocated insufficient staff to ensure products were correctly categorised, resulting in misclassified items being published without proper scrutiny. Some traders exploited this by placing products in less stringent categories, allowing non-compliant goods to remain available for purchase.
Counterfeit Risks and Ineffective Measures
Additionally, the commission raised concerns about AliExpress’s ability to prevent counterfeit products from proliferating on its platform. The mandatory brand authorisation system, designed to stop counterfeit sales, was deemed ineffective due to inadequate staffing. As a result, traders managed to bypass this system, leading to counterfeit items being listed and later removed after detection.
The €550 million fine reflects the nature, seriousness, and duration of these breaches, with the commission considering the number of affected users across the European Union. The violations were ongoing until at least June 2025, when preliminary findings were issued.
Path to Compliance and Future Oversight
In light of these findings, the commission has mandated that AliExpress submit an action plan by October 20, 2026, detailing measures to address the identified shortcomings. This plan will undergo evaluation by the European Board for Digital Services, which has one month to provide feedback. Following this, the commission will have another month to adopt a final decision and set a timeline for AliExpress’s compliance.
Failure to adhere to this directive could result in periodic penalty payments. The commission has expressed its intention to work closely with AliExpress to ensure alignment with the DSA moving forward.
The formal investigation commenced on March 14, 2024, focusing on potential breaches related to risk assessment, content moderation, advertising transparency, and trader traceability. On June 18, 2025, the commission accepted a series of commitments from AliExpress aimed at addressing many of the concerns identified during the investigation, although these did not cover all the issues raised.
