AliExpress fined €550 million by EU over illegal product sales
6 verified4 unconfirmed
The European Commission has fined Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress €550 million for violating the Digital Services Act by failing to prevent the sale of illegal, unsafe, and counterfeit products. The penalty is the largest imposed under the DSA, which took effect in 2024. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen stated that the spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, and dangerous cosmetics online is not an unavoidable cost of shopping but a failure by AliExpress to meet its legal obligations. The commission found the company allocated insufficient staff to verify products, and that many illegal items remained online for multiple weeks after detection. The fine follows earlier DSA penalties against rival retailer Temu for similar infractions. AliExpress has been given a deadline to remedy the breach or face additional fines.
What’s verified
The European Commission fined AliExpress €550 million under the Digital Services Act.
The fine was issued for failing to stop the sale of illegal, unsafe, or counterfeit products, including harmful clothing, cosmetics, and toys.
The commission found that AliExpress allocated insufficient staff to assess product legality and that illegal products remained online for weeks after detection.
This is the largest penalty imposed under the DSA to date.
EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said the violations represented a failure by AliExpress to comply with its obligations under the law.
Rival platform Temu was also fined under the DSA earlier in 2026 for similar violations.
Not yet confirmed
The Guardian reports specific compliance failures including that staff were given only “tens of seconds” to judge products and that millions of flagged products reappeared online after removal.
The Guardian also states that AliExpress has 193 million users in the EU and that the fine represents less than 1% of parent company Alibaba’s annual revenue.
The Verge reports that AliExpress has until October 20, 2026, to remedy the breach or face additional periodic fines; this deadline is not mentioned by the other source.
The Guardian includes AliExpress’s response criticizing the fine as “disproportionate.” Other sources do not include this reaction.
Key figures
Henna Virkkunen, European Commission executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy; AliExpress; Alibaba.
Sources: The Guardian, The Verge
