EU fines AliExpress record €550 million for illegal product sales

On Monday, the European Commission announced a historic fine of €550 million ($629 million) against Alibaba's AliExpress for not effectively preventing the sale of illegal, unsafe, and counterfeit items on its site. This penalty marks the highest ever imposed by the EU on an e-commerce entity under the Digital Services Act, highlighting the bloc's efforts to regulate online marketplaces that fail to monitor their listings properly. AliExpress, a global retail platform owned by the Chinese tech giant Alibaba, was criticized for its insufficient measures to identify and eliminate prohibited products, including hazardous and counterfeit luxury items. This fine emphasizes the EU's dedication to enforcing stricter digital regulations and safeguarding consumers from dangerous online goods.