The European Union has fined AliExpress €550 million ($629 million), the largest penalty ever given under the bloc's Digital Services Act. The fine punishes the Chinese shopping platform for failing to stop unsafe, illegal and fake products reaching European buyers. The company now faces a key deadline: it must send Brussels a full action plan by October 20 explaining how it will fix the problems.
Why the EU acted against AliExpress
The European Commission opened its investigation in March 2024. Officials were worried about dangerous items sold on the platform, including children's toys with small parts, faulty batteries and products with fake safety marks. The EU's safety alert system kept flagging large numbers of such products.
The investigation ran for 18 months. In June 2025 the Commission issued early findings and AliExpress promised to improve its systems. But the final decision in July 2026 concluded the company had not done enough. The fine is based on the company's behaviour up to June 2025.
What the investigators found
According to the Commission, AliExpress did not hire enough staff to check whether products were legal. Some reviewers had only tens of seconds to judge if an item met EU safety rules. The company relied too heavily on automated checks, which failed to catch the scale of the problem.
The regulators also found that the platform's own recommendation and advertising systems promoted illegal products before they were removed. In many cases, unsafe or fake goods stayed online for weeks even after the company's moderation system flagged them. Shops selling such goods were able to keep trading even after being punished.
Another problem was mislabelling. Sellers could place risky products in the wrong categories, where they faced less checking. The Commission said the penalty system for repeat offenders simply did not work.
The biggest DSA fine so far
The €550 million fine is the third and largest under the Digital Services Act. Earlier, Temu was fined €200 million in May over unsafe products, and the social media platform X was fined €120 million over deceptive blue ticks and poor advertising transparency. Temu is still under investigation on other issues.
Even so, the fine is far below the legal maximum. The DSA allows penalties of up to 6 percent of a company's global yearly revenue, and Alibaba Group's turnover was over €120 billion last year. AliExpress called the fine "disproportionate" and said it is reviewing the decision. The company can appeal to the EU General Court.
What happens next
AliExpress must submit a detailed action plan by October 20, setting out how it will assess and fix the risks its platform creates. The plan must show concrete steps to stop illegal goods and punish repeat offenders properly. If Brussels finds the plan weak, further action could follow.
The EU also continues to target other cheap online sellers. The Commission has warned Temu it faces more action, and the EU has already added a €3 charge on small parcels from outside the bloc, with bigger customs duties coming in 2028.
What this means for online shoppers
For everyday buyers, the message is simple: big platforms can no longer shrug at what their sellers offer. Expect stricter checks, clearer safety warnings and more honest pricing on import charges. AliExpress says product pages will show "Price includes duties and VAT" labels where they apply, and import costs will be shown before checkout for other items.
The case also shows a wider shift. Both the EU and the UK are moving against loopholes that once let cheap overseas goods flow in with little tax or safety control. Britain is expected to use its Autumn Budget on October 28 to make marketplaces collect VAT from sellers directly. The era of unchecked bargain parcels is coming to an end.
