The European Commission (EC) has provisionally determined that AliExpress failed to fulfil its duty to evaluate and reduce the risks associated with the spread of unlawful products as required by the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The commission is advancing its investigation regarding AliExpress’s adherence to the DSA aimed at bolstering online user and consumer protection.
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The Commission’s preliminary conclusions indicate several areas where AliExpress’s practices do not align with DSA requirements for Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs).
The platform’s risk assessment appears to overlook the limitations of its moderation capabilities, leading to an underestimation of the risk related to the spread of illegal products.
AliExpress has reportedly not effectively implemented its sanctions policy against sellers who consistently list illegal items.
There are indications of significant shortcomings in AliExpress’s proactive content moderation systems, which reduce their effectiveness and leave room for exploitation by unscrupulous sellers.
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By GlobalDataThese issues represent a failure to adequately evaluate and address systemic risks associated with the distribution of illegal content, including counterfeit items and products that fail to meet European safety standards.
The preliminary findings do not predetermine the final outcome of the investigation.
AliExpress now has the opportunity to respond to the EC’s concerns. If the EC’s initial view is confirmed, it may result in a non-compliance decision, potential fines and an obligation for AliExpress to submit an action plan to remedy the infringement.
The formal proceedings to assess AliExpress’ adherence to the DSA began on 14 March 2024, focusing on risk management, content moderation, complaint handling, advertising transparency, trader traceability and data access for researchers.
EC tech sovereignty, security and democracy executive vice-president Henna Virkkunen stated: “We have been able to take concrete steps to ensure a high level of safety for EU [European Union] citizens while maintaining a level playing field for platforms and traders in the EU market. This decision serves as an illustration of the commission’s expectations when we raise concerns. We welcome AliExpress’ commitments towards becoming safer for users, fairer for legitimate traders and a better online platform for all.”
The EC has also accepted and made legally binding a series of commitments from AliExpress to address concerns about its transparency on advertising and recommender systems.
AliExpress has agreed to a range of commitments to improve the monitoring and detection of illegal products on its platform, such as medicines, food supplements and adult material.
These commitments also cover the platform’s notice and action mechanism, internal complaint handling system, transparency of advertising and recommender systems, trader traceability and access to public data for researchers.
These measures are designed to make information and tools for limiting the spread of illegal content easily accessible.
AliExpress has also committed to maintaining an internal monitoring framework, overseen by a dedicated team, to ensure the effectiveness of these commitments and to conduct regular risk assessments.
An independent monitoring trustee will report to the EC annually on the implementation of these commitments.
