EU fines Alibaba's AliExpress 550 million euros under Digital Services Act for illegal and dangerous goods

The fine and its basis

The European Commission levied a record fine of 550 million euros on AliExpress, the e-commerce platform owned by Chinese group Alibaba, under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The penalty was announced on Monday and marks the third enforcement action under the bloc's flagship platform-regulation law. The Commission found that AliExpress failed to properly assess and mitigate risks linked to the spread of illegal and counterfeit goods, with unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and numerous fake products remaining online for extended periods.

This is very dangerous for consumers and unfair to businesses that follow all our rules.

The Commission's executive vice-president for tech, Henna Virkkunen, stated that during the investigation, auditors discovered AliExpress reviewers were given only 20 seconds to check the legality of each product listing.

Scale of the platform in Europe

AliExpress had 193 million users across Europe in the previous year, according to Virkkunen. For comparison, Shein counted 156 million European users and Temu 130 million. One in five Europeans reports making a purchase once a month from Shein, Temu or AliExpress, she added. The investigation into AliExpress began in March 2024 and also examined the transparency of its advertising and product-recommendation systems. Several issues were resolved through commitments accepted by the Chinese company in June 2025.

Comparisons with Temu and Shein

The AliExpress fine comes two months after the Commission imposed a 200-million-euro penalty on rival Chinese platform Temu for similar violations. Virkkunen noted that, so far, Temu has been found in breach only of its obligation to adequately monitor its platform for illegal products offered for sale in Europe. Shein remains under investigation under the DSA but has not yet been fined. The Commission said it considered the duration and severity of the infringements when setting the amount for AliExpress.

In determining the amount of the fine, we looked at the duration and severity of these infringements.

The company's response and next steps

AliExpress called the penalty disproportionate and announced it would appeal. In an emailed statement, the company said it disagrees with the decision and that the fine does not adequately reflect its existing compliance framework or the significant, proactive improvements it has made. A spokesperson stated that the company is carefully reviewing the decision and evaluating all available legal options. AliExpress has until 20 October to propose corrective measures. If the Commission judges in December that those proposals do not comply with DSA requirements, the company risks additional sanctions.

We disagree with today's decision and the disproportionate fine, which does not adequately reflect the existing compliance framework we apply or the significant and proactive improvements we have made.

The Digital Services Act enforcement

The DSA requires very large online platforms to do more to block harmful content and illegal products. AliExpress was charged in June of last year with failing to comply with the obligation to evaluate and limit risks tied to the spread of illegal goods. This 550-million-euro penalty is the largest yet imposed under the regulation. The Commission had previously accepted a set of binding commitments from AliExpress in June 2025 that resolved aspects of the probe, but core failings around risk assessment and product safety remained unaddressed through that settlement.