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(Sharecast News) - AliExpress has been hit with a 550m fine for failing to tackle the sale of fake and unsafe products on its platform, the European Commission announced on Monday.
Brussels said the Chinese internet giant, which is owned by Alibaba Group, had breached its obligations under the landmark Digital Services Act to "diligently assess and mitigate risks relating to the sale of illegal, unsafe or counterfeit products". It has also ordered the platform to take action to curb the sales.
The fine takes into account the nature of the infringements, their gravity and their duration, which ran until June 2025, when the Commission first issued preliminary findings against AliExpress.
The platform now has until 20 October to submit its action plan to the Commission, including "measures to remedy the breach of its obligations to assess and mitigate systemic risks".
The Commission added it was continuing to engage with AliExpress to "ensure compliance with the decision and with the DSA more generally".
Henna Virkkunen, the Commission's executive vice president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said: "The spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and other illegal and harmful products is not an unavoidable cost of shopping online - it is a failure by AliExpress to comply with its obligations under the DSA.
"Scale is not an excuse: risks must be identified and addressed systemically to ensure consumers can safely shop online."
However, AliExpress intends to appeal the fine. It told Reuters it had worked with the Commission to meet its "evolving expectations", adding: "Today's decision and disproportionate fine ignores our sound risk management framework and the significant, proactive enhancements we have made."
The DSA, which came into force in 2022, applies to all digital intermediate services, including hosting services, online platforms and search engines. It was introduced to modernise the e-Commerce Directive, which was first adopted in 2020, and to harmonise different national laws across the bloc.