The European Union has fined Chinese e-commerce giant AliExpress €550 million ($629 million), over the sale of unsafe and counterfeit products on the company's platform.
According to the Associated Press, the fine is the largest ever for a breach of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). The European Commission first opened an investigation into AliExpress's compliance with the DSA in 2024, before issuing preliminary findings in June 2025, alleging that the company had failed to adequately assess and mitigate the risks posed by illegal products sold on its platform.
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After receiving a response to those preliminary findings from AliExpress, the European Commission issued a final ruling on July 19, 2026, stating that the company had overestimated the effectiveness of its system to detect and remove illegal products. The ruling also found that many illegal products were recommended or advertised to consumers before they were removed, and that a high volume of illegal products continued to circulate for weeks even after they were flagged by AliExpress's moderation system.
“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,” said European Commission Executive VP Henna Virkkunen.
In a statement to the AP, AliExpress asserted that the EU's fine was "disproportionate," and that the company has been committed to fulfilling its obligations under the DSA. AliExpress now has until October 20 to submit an action plan that details how the company will fix the issues flagged in the commission's report.
