AliExpress Faces October 20 Deadline After Record €550 Million EU Fine
AliExpress is running out of time in Europe. The shopping giant has until October 20 — just days away — to hand EU regulators a plan to clean up its marketplace. If the plan falls short, the company could face even bigger penalties.
The deadline follows a record €550 million fine handed down in July — about $629 million. It is the largest fine ever given under the EU’s Digital Services Act, the bloc’s tough law for the biggest online platforms.
The biggest fine of its kind
The European Commission announced the fine in the summer after a two-year investigation. Officials said AliExpress failed to properly check for risks linked to illegal, unsafe, and counterfeit products sold on its platform.
The Commission found that the company’s systems for finding and removing illegal goods were weaker than AliExpress had claimed. It also said the platform did not hire enough staff to handle the review work.
EU tests showed that illegal products — from fake clothing to unsafe toys and risky cosmetics — were recommended or advertised to shoppers before they were taken down. The company itself told regulators that nearly 15 million illegal products were suggested to EU users last year, mostly cosmetics, toys, clothes, and gadgets.
EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen put it bluntly: “The spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and other illegal and harmful products is not an unavoidable cost of shopping online — it is a failure by AliExpress to comply with its obligations under the Digital Services Act.”
AliExpress fights back
AliExpress called the fine “disproportionate” and said it will appeal. The company said the decision ignores the safety improvements it has already made and the money it has spent on product safety and consumer protection.
The platform has around 193 million users in Europe — more than its rivals Shein and Temu. One in five Europeans says they shop on these Chinese platforms at least once a month, according to the Commission.
A wider crackdown on marketplaces
AliExpress is not the only platform in the EU’s sights. Temu has already been fined €200 million under the same law, and Shein faces an ongoing investigation.
In France, the consumer watchdog has accused several big marketplaces — including Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Wish, and Joom — of selling illegal products. In Britain, the product safety regulator has ordered eBay, Amazon, AliExpress, and others to remove dangerous “squishy” toys sold with needles.
What it means for sellers and shoppers
For shoppers, the crackdown should mean safer listings — but stricter checks could also slow down how fast new products appear on the site.
For sellers who buy from AliExpress — including dropshippers and small online stores — the message is clear: expect more listings to be reviewed, delayed, or removed as the platform tightens its checks. Products in risky categories like toys, cosmetics, and electronics could face the most attention.
The Commission will review AliExpress’s action plan in December. If the company cannot show it has fixed the problems, further fines could follow. For one of the world’s biggest shopping platforms, October 20 is a date that really matters.