The European Commission has imposed a €550 million fine on AliExpress for failing to adequately address illegal and counterfeit products, marking the largest penalty under the Digital Services Act amid ongoing efforts to regulate online marketplaces.
The European Union has imposed a €550 million fine on AliExpress, escalating its crackdown on large online marketplaces that authorities say are not doing enough to stop illegal, unsafe and counterfeit products from circulating on their platforms. The penalty, announced by the European Commission on July 20, is the latest and largest action yet under the Digital Services Act, according to the Commission and reporting by Euronews and Dealroom.
Brussels said AliExpress failed to properly assess the risks tied to products sold through its marketplace and underestimated the staffing it needed to review suspicious listings. The Commission also said the company overestimated how well its own detection and takedown systems worked, allowing flagged goods to remain online for extended periods, according to the Commission’s statement and reporting by JURIST.
The size of the fine is notable even by the standards of the EU’s increasingly aggressive enforcement drive. Dealroom and other outlets said it exceeds the €200 million penalty imposed on Temu and the €120 million fine levied against X, making it the biggest sanction handed out so far under the digital rules. That reflects the Commission’s broader push to force platforms to take greater responsibility for policing their marketplaces, especially as concerns mount over consumer safety and counterfeit trade.
For Europe, the case fits into a wider struggle over digital governance, trade distortions and the flood of low-cost Chinese goods into the bloc. The Commission’s action against AliExpress comes as policymakers try to balance open commerce with tougher oversight of platforms that can scale quickly across borders while leaving regulators scrambling to keep up.
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