AliExpress Hit with Nearly $630 Million Fine for Selling Illegal Products

AliExpress has been slapped with a hefty €550 million (around $629 million) fine for breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) in Europe by not adequately preventing the sale of illegal, unsafe, or counterfeit products on its platform. The European Commission found that AliExpress failed to implement effective measures to curb the spread of these products, highlighting that the company “allocated insufficient staff” for product verification and took too long—“multiple weeks”—to remove unsafe toys and hazardous cosmetics once they were identified.

“The proliferation of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics, and other illegal and harmful products is not an inevitable part of online shopping; it reflects AliExpress’s failure to meet its responsibilities under the Digital Services Act,” stated EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen. “Scale is not an excuse; risks must be systematically identified and addressed to ensure consumers can shop online safely.”

This marks the largest fine ever issued under the DSA framework, with rival Chinese retailer Temu also facing penalties exceeding $230 million for similar violations back in May. AliExpress has until October 20, 2026, to rectify the situation or risk incurring further fines.