The European Commission has alleged that the Chinese online retail platform AliExpress is systemically failing to protect its customers from illegal and dangerous goods.
Working from an investigation launched in March 2024, European Union regulators targeted AliExpress by issuing formal findings on Wednesday, June 18th. Jack Ma’s e-commerce giant was found to have “underestimated the general risk of the sale of illegal products.”
While key concerns include product safety—and the legality of goods not cleared for sale in European markets—there is growing concern about ‘hidden links’ from legitimate goods to other items for sale, allegedly including pornography. Such violations of the rules would bring the retailer within the scope of the Digital Services Act (DSA), theoretically meaning that the EU could levy a fine of up to 6% of global turnover.
As the EU grapples with the perceived competitive threat of Chinese e-commerce, some observers are concerned about whether Brussels’ economic rules are undergoing political ‘mission creep,’ bringing the two huge, rival economies closer to conflict.
