EU hits China’s Alibaba with €550M record fine over illegal products - politico.eu

What the report says

POLITICO.eu reports that the European Commission has fined AliExpress €550 million, its largest penalty to date under the Digital Services Act, after finding that the Alibaba-owned marketplace did not adequately prevent illegal and harmful goods from being sold to EU consumers. The decision, announced in Brussels on Monday, centered on products such as counterfeits, unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics that EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said remained available, promoted or recommended even after problems had been identified.

The case matters because the DSA requires major online platforms to assess and reduce risks linked to illegal content and goods on their services. According to POLITICO, regulators concluded that AliExpress failed to properly evaluate whether it had enough staff to review suspect listings, and that moderators were left with extremely limited time to assess potentially illegal products. The Commission also found weaknesses in how the platform reviewed the role of advertising, recommendation systems and product categorization in spreading banned or unsafe items.

The AliExpress fine is the third DSA penalty reported so far and follows a €200 million sanction against rival marketplace Temu over similar concerns. The Commission opened its AliExpress investigation in March 2024, while some other suspected breaches involving advertising transparency and recommender systems were addressed through commitments in June 2025.

POLITICO reports that AliExpress has until Oct. 20 to submit an action plan or risk further penalties. The company said it plans to appeal, describing the fine as disproportionate and saying it has made proactive improvements while remaining committed to consumer obligations.