• 2 min read
AliExpress hit with €550 million EU DSA fine
The EU fined AliExpress €550 million for failing to curb illegal, unsafe, and counterfeit products, the biggest penalty yet under the DSA.
Image: The Verge
AliExpress has been fined €550 million — about $629 million — for breaching Europe’s Digital Services Act by failing to stop the sale of illegal, unsafe, or counterfeit products on its marketplace.
The European Commission said the company did not take effective steps to limit the spread of illegal goods. According to the ruling, AliExpress allocated insufficient staff to verify products and left unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics online for multiple weeks after identifying them.
“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 Digital Services Act.”
Virkkunen added that scale is not an excuse, and that platforms must identify and address risks systematically so consumers can shop safely online.
The penalty is the largest ever issued under the DSA. The next biggest went to rival Chinese retailer Temu, which was fined more than $230 million for similar DSA violations in May.
AliExpress has until October 20th, 2026 to fix the breach or face additional periodic fines.
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via The Verge
