The European Commission fines AliExpress with 550 million euros for not stopping illegal and dangerous products

The European Commission continues its crusade against big technology companies. In addition to pursuing the practices of Google or Meta with Instagram, it has now imposed a fine of 550 million euros for breaching the Digital Services Law. Brussels considers that the platform did not sufficiently diligently evaluate or reduce the risks linked to the sale of illegal, unsafe or counterfeit products within its service. The decision also forces the company to present corrective measures.

According to the Commission, AliExpress did not realistically calculate whether it had sufficient staff to review potentially illicit products. The company would have overestimated the effectiveness of its automated systems and would not have adequately taken into account the relationship between the number of moderators and the workload. Consequently, the internal assessment did not reflect the real risk of continued circulation of prohibited items.

Brussels also concludes that AliExpress insufficiently analyzed the effect of its recommendation and advertising systems. Tests carried out by the Commission services showed that numerous illegal products could be recommended or advertised before being withdrawn. Additionally, the platform used very few quantitative indicators and did not measure well the reappearance of similar products after a removal.

Counterfeits, unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics remained on the platform for weeks

The decision indicates that the detection system of AliExpress did not work properly. Counterfeits, unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics continued to appear on the platform, with some of these items remaining available for several weeks even after being detected. For the Commission, the measures applied were not sufficient to reduce a systemic risk already identified.

Another problem was in the policy of sanctioning sellers. AliExpress did not correctly apply its own penalties, allowing some stores to remain active despite having sold illegal products. There were also flaws in item classification, with certain sellers deliberately placing items in incorrect categories to avoid stricter compliance requirements before publication.

The Commission pays special attention to counterfeits. The mandatory trademark authorization system, designed to prevent their sale, was ineffective and understaffed. This allowed numerous merchants to circumvent controls and publish items that were only later removed. Brussels emphasizes that these practices harm both consumers and legitimate companies that do invest in design, safety and innovation.

AliExpress must present an action plan before October 20

Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, stated that “the spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and other illegal and harmful products is not an inevitable cost of shopping online.” As he pointed out, “it is a breach by AliExpress of its obligations under the Digital Services Law.”

Virkkunen has also warned that “scale is not an excuse” and that Risks must be identified and addressed systematically so that consumers can buy safely. The Commission took into account the nature, severity and duration of the infringements, which lasted at least until June 2025, although it also assessed the novelty of the DSA itself as a mitigating circumstance.

AliExpress has until October 20, 2026 to present an action plan with measures to correct non-compliance. The European Digital Services Board will then have one month to issue its opinion and the Commission will have another month to adopt a final decision on its application. If the platform fails to comply, it could face additional periodic coercive payments.

The formal investigation began in March 2024 and covered moderation, advertising, recommendation systems, seller traceability and data access. In June 2025, the Commission already accepted several commitments from AliExpress to resolve part of the concerns, but kept open the issues related to risk assessment and mitigation. The current sanction focuses precisely on those deficiencies that Brussels considers especially serious.