The European Union announced on Wednesday, June 18, that the Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress must take additional measures to protect consumers from illegal product sales. According to a preliminary report from the European Commission, AliExpress could face significant fines for violating the obligations outlined in the Digital Services Act (DSA) regarding the dissemination of illegal products.

While the platform has made some progress, the Commission has preliminarily determined that AliExpress has failed to properly implement risk assessments and mitigation obligations for the spread of illegal products. A formal investigation into AliExpress will begin in March 2024. The Commission's preliminary findings reveal that AliExpress has not adequately enforced its penalty policies against sellers of repeated illegal content.

The EU also highlighted systemic failures in AliExpress's content moderation systems, which make the platform susceptible to manipulation by malicious sellers. If found in violation of the DSA, the Commission could impose fines of up to 6% of the platform's global annual revenue.