EU Issues Record Fine to AliExpress Over Unsafe Goods

The European Union has issued a record-breaking fine of €550 million to the Chinese online retail giant AliExpress. According to the European Commission, the company failed to stop the sale of illegal and harmful products on its platform, including unsafe toys, fake clothing, and dangerous cosmetics. This penalty is the largest ever imposed under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a set of laws designed to make the internet safer by requiring large tech companies to identify and remove illegal content.

European Commission official Henna Virkkunen stated that the spread of these harmful items is not an unavoidable cost of shopping online. Instead, she described it as a failure by AliExpress to follow its legal obligations. The decision follows a two-year investigation which found that the company’s systems for detecting dangerous goods did not work properly. In some cases, illegal products remained on the website for several weeks even after they were identified. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that AliExpress did not properly punish traders who sold these illegal items, allowing them to continue their activities.

One of the main issues highlighted by the European Commission was a lack of staff. Reports from The Guardian and Ars Technica noted that the company did not have enough employees to review products effectively. Some moderators were reportedly given only "tens of seconds" to decide if a product met European safety standards. Because of this, many dangerous items were not blocked. Additionally, the commission found that the platform’s recommendation systems sometimes promoted these illegal goods to customers, which helped the items reach more people.

AliExpress, which is owned by the Chinese tech conglomerate Alibaba, has 193 million users in Europe. This makes it a larger platform in the region than competitors like Shein or Temu. Despite the size of the fine, it represents less than 1% of the €122 billion in revenue that Alibaba earned last year. Under the Digital Services Act, the European Union has the power to fine companies up to 6% of their global revenue, meaning the potential penalty could have been much higher.

In response to the news, AliExpress expressed surprise and disagreement with the decision. The company stated that the fine was "disproportionate"—meaning it was too large for the situation—and ignored the work it has already done to improve safety. In a statement, AliExpress claimed it invests significant resources into risk assessment and consumer protection. The company confirmed that it plans to appeal the decision, arguing that it has made proactive improvements to its systems.

This is not the first time the European Union has used the Digital Services Act to target large online platforms. Earlier this year, the retailer Temu was fined €200 million for similar issues regarding the sale of dangerous baby toys and other illegal products. Last year, the social media platform X was also fined €120 million for issues related to deceptive verification badges and a lack of transparency. These actions show that the European Union is becoming much stricter with how online companies manage the safety of their users.

As part of the ruling, AliExpress is required to pay the fine and must submit a detailed plan to the European Commission by October 20. This plan must explain exactly how the company will fix its safety breaches and prevent illegal goods from being sold in the future. Once the plan is submitted, regulators will review it to see if the changes are sufficient. If the company fails to meet these new standards, it could face further penalties in the future.

For many Europeans, this issue is very relevant. According to Henna Virkkunen, one in five people in the European Union shops on platforms like AliExpress, Temu, or Shein at least once a month. Because so many people rely on these sites for their daily needs, the European Commission believes it is essential to hold these companies to a high standard of safety. The investigation into AliExpress serves as a clear warning to other global retail platforms that they must take responsibility for the products sold on their websites.