AliExpress Gets Record €550M EU Fine Over Illegal Products

AliExpress has been fined a record €550m by the European Union for allowing the sale of illegal products including unsafe toys and counterfeit clothes, according to BBC. The European Commission said the Chinese online retail giant fell short of its duty under the Digital Services Act to assess the risk of illegal, unsafe or fake goods on its platform. The Commission said its two-year investigation found AliExpress’s detection systems did not work properly, with some illegal products not flagged and others left on the site for weeks. It also said the company did not properly enforce penalties on traders and that its product compliance checks could be easily circumvented. AliExpress said the fine was disproportionate and that it had made enhancements to its processes. The company, owned by Alibaba, has 193 million users in Europe and must now pay the fine and submit a plan to the EU by 20 October.