The European Commission (EC) has accepted many of the improvements made by the e-commerce giant to comply with the European Digital Services Act (DSA), but says AliExpress has not done enough to crack down on illegal content, Politico reports.
The European Commission said on the 18th of June that its initial findings show that the Chinese retailer has violated rules related to the distribution of illegal content and products, and that the platform could face fines. The EC has long been paying close attention to AliExpress for its failure to comply with the bloc’s new digital rules.
The EC said in a statement that the company had taken significant steps to comply with the DSA, but had failed to adequately assess the risks associated with the distribution of illegal content or products, and had failed to develop a plan to mitigate the risk.
There are also systemic errors in the platform’s content review process, and sellers of illegal products were not being fined.
However, the EC also found that the company has made improvements in other areas relevant to the investigation opened in March 2024, such as achieving better traceability, improving its internal reporting system and paying more attention to the health effects of the products it sells.
The commitments made by AliExpress will be binding in the future, and the company may have to pay a fine for violating them. This applies in particular to the trading platform’s commitment to work against hidden links that lead to illegal products, often brand counterfeits, influencer testing and testing of food additives and medical products.