The European Commission imposed a 550 million euro fine on Chinese platform AliExpress on July 20, 2026, for failing to curb the sale of illegal and unsafe products on its marketplace. It is the highest penalty issued to date under the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA).
The community investigation, launched in March 2024, found that unsafe toys, hazardous cosmetics, and counterfeit clothing remained available on the platform for weeks after being reported. European Technology Commissioner Henna Virkkunen stated that the spread of these products is not an inevitable cost of e-commerce, but a compliance failure on the company's part, as reported by The Verge. For Mexican and Latino consumers in North America, the news strikes a sensitive chord: AliExpress is one of the most widely used cross-border e-commerce platforms in the region for purchasing electronics, clothing, and accessories at low cost, with direct shipping from China and without those products undergoing any local safety review.
The Commission's file details that AliExpress content moderators had just 10 to 20 seconds to review each listing, a margin the regulator deemed insufficient to detect non-compliant items. Vendors that had already been penalized for selling illegal products continued operating without effective restrictions, and the platform's brand verification system proved easy to circumvent through product recategorization. The fine is equivalent to approximately 629 million dollars, less than 1 percent of the Alibaba Group's annual global revenue. According to AP, it is the third penalty under the DSA, following those applied to X and Temu for smaller amounts. AliExpress called the fine disproportionate and is analyzing whether to file an appeal.
The platform has until October 20, 2026 to deliver a compliance plan to Brussels or face additional periodic payments. For buyers in Mexico and North America, the penalty raises an alert about the safety of products arriving by courier without passing through local controls.
This article was written with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.