AliExpress Hit With Record $625 Million Fine After Failing To Make EU

AliExpress Hit With Record $625 Million Fine After Failing To Make EU-Ordered Fixes (arstechnica.com) 18 The European Commission has fined AliExpress more than $625 million, the largest penalty yet under the Digital Services Act, after finding that the marketplace failed to "diligently assess and mitigate risks relating to the sale of illegal, unsafe, or counterfeit products on its e-commerce platform." EU officials said flagged products repeatedly reappeared, sellers could evade safeguards, and AliExpress's recommendation and ad systems helped amplify dangerous goods. Ars Technica reports: For shady sellers, the risks of detection appeared low. The e-commerce site's mandatory brand authorization system was also ineffective and understaffed, the EC found, and AliExpress did not penalize traders for selling illegal products as its policy claims it would. Making things worse, AliExpress "inadequately assessed how its recommender and advertising systems exacerbate the spread of illegal products," the EC said. So rather than remove illegal products, AliExpress was recommending them to consumers and helping to maximize exposure. Talking to the press, the European Union's tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, noted that one in five Europeans shop monthly at retail sites like AliExpress, Temu, and Shein. AliExpress also relied on a single quantitative metric to gauge how effectively its systems were working to weed out illegal products. And that metric did not properly measure the extent of the harm. EC testing found that "a high volume of illegal products" -- including unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics -- "continued to circulate despite AliExpress' moderation efforts." In June 2025, AliExpress was ordered to bring its platform into compliance with the DSA but failed to make the necessary changes, the EC said. The fine was calculated to be proportionate to the nature of the violations, which the EC considered "particularly serious infringements," and to penalize AliExpress's delayed interventions to mitigate flagged risks. [...] AliExpress told Ars it was "surprised" by the "disproportionate" fine. AliExpress said it plans to appeal the decision, claiming the EC ignored its "sound risk management framework and the significant, proactive enhancements we have made." The massive online retailer noted that its EU market is substantially smaller than its China market and said that it invests "substantial resources in risk assessment and mitigation, product safety and consumer protection" and "has been and continues to be committed to meeting our obligations to consumers." AliExpress also relied on a single quantitative metric to gauge how effectively its systems were working to weed out illegal products. And that metric did not properly measure the extent of the harm. EC testing found that "a high volume of illegal products" -- including unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics -- "continued to circulate despite AliExpress' moderation efforts." In June 2025, AliExpress was ordered to bring its platform into compliance with the DSA but failed to make the necessary changes, the EC said. The fine was calculated to be proportionate to the nature of the violations, which the EC considered "particularly serious infringements," and to penalize AliExpress's delayed interventions to mitigate flagged risks. [...] AliExpress told Ars it was "surprised" by the "disproportionate" fine. AliExpress said it plans to appeal the decision, claiming the EC ignored its "sound risk management framework and the significant, proactive enhancements we have made." The massive online retailer noted that its EU market is substantially smaller than its China market and said that it invests "substantial resources in risk assessment and mitigation, product safety and consumer protection" and "has been and continues to be committed to meeting our obligations to consumers." Re: (Score:2) There is a lot of shady "somebody else's problem" to deal with lately. There is zero reason for a Bitcoin ATM to exist at a supermarket or laundromat. 99.9% of their profit comes from enabling fraud. Re: (Score:2) AliExpress and Amazon are both cesspools, where thousands of sellers sell identical or nearly identical products under different brand names with different markup. And most of the products are trash. Case in point, I bought a bunch of metric bolts and nuts at Amazon, and they wouldn't screw onto each other. They would get to some random point and the nuts would stop turning. Sometimes it was half an inch up, sometimes it was two inches up, but the failure rate was something like 40% and I budgeted for 20 Does EU has any authority over it? (Score:1) Re:Does EU has any authority over it? (Score:4, Informative) They do business in the EU. If you do business in a country, you are subject to their rules and regulations. Re:Does EU has any authority over it? (Score:4, Insightful) What is it with the legal fan-fiction about EU here in Slashdot where people think European laws are optionals. When US fines an EU company you never see these remarks. Ali has subsidiaries in Europe, billions in revenue, data centers. How do you exactly see that play out that they decide not to pay a fine? They will just decide to give up on billions to save millions? And then nobody that works for Ali can enter Europe again? Is that your legal strategy? Re: (Score:2) Re: Does EU has any authority over it? (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) Let's imagine Ali Express has no local representation in the EU and thus a fine cannot be enforced. They can then choose to not pay. And the EU can choose to not allow any merchandise shipped from Ali Express into the EU. That's the largest single market on the planet they'd be kissing goodbye. Somehow, I figure they care. Re: Does EU has any authority over it? (Score:2) Not surprising AE basically brushed off the EU (Score:2) Those products are a significant percentage of its business, they basically took the street vendors and gave them a global marketplace. You no longer need to go to Asia to get a high quality counterfeit football jersey or shoddy electrical appliance. It's even easier for the vendor, get cutoff and open under a new name. No new storefront to find, no goods to mov or hide from spot checks when the government decides to 'crack down' due to pressure from manufacturers. The quality varies greatly depending Chinese flea markets (Score:2) Buy things from Chinese flea markets, expect to get fleas. Specifically... (Score:2) Re: Specifically... (Score:3) Way too small fine. (Score:2)