AliExpress fined record €550m by EU over illegal and counterfeit goods

The Chinese online retail platform AliExpress has been fined a record €550m by the EU after failing to stop illegal goods, including harmful clothing, cosmetics and kitchen gadgets, being sold through its site. The penalty is the largest imposed so far under the Digital Services Act, which came into force in 2024 to protect consumers from illegal goods and deceptive marketing techniques.

The European Commission found AliExpress did not have enough staff to assess product legality, sometimes giving reviewers just "tens of seconds" to judge whether an item met EU standards. It also found many illegal products were promoted by the platform’s recommendation systems, that internal risk assessments failed, and that detected items often remained online for multiple weeks or reappeared after being flagged.

Officials said the fine reflected "the nature and gravity" of the platform’s failure to implement mitigating measures to stop consumers being offered harmful or dangerous goods.

European Union

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