The European Commission has imposed a record fine of 550 million euros, equivalent to about 629 million dollars, on the online trading platform AliExpress. The sanction was imposed on the platform for not taking sufficient measures against the sale of counterfeit, illegal or dangerous products.
The sanction is the largest ever applied under the Digital Services Act (DSA) – the European regulation that obliges major online platforms to combat illegal content and products.
According to the European Commission, AliExpress did not correctly assess the risks associated with the marketing of illegal products and overestimated the efficiency of its own detection and removal systems, writes bani.md. Thus, counterfeit products, unsafe toys, and cosmetics considered dangerous for consumers remained available on the site for weeks.
The European executive has also criticized the platform’s recommendation and advertising system, which it claims has favored the spread of illegal products. At the same time, the trademark verification system, created to combat counterfeiting, was deemed inefficient and understaffed, being easily bypassed by merchants selling fake products.
“This is very dangerous for consumers and unfair to companies that abide by the rules,” stated the European Commissioner for Technology, Henna Virkkunen.
According to the data presented by the Commission, AliExpress had 193 million users last year. The platform rejected the sanction, describing it as “disproportionate,” and announced that it is reviewing the decision and all available legal options.
The company risks further sanctions if the remedial measures it will propose to the European authorities are not considered sufficient to comply with the legislation on digital services.