Today, the Commission has taken two significant steps in its investigation regarding AliExpresss compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA and the actions taken today aim to ensure online user and consumer safety.

First, the Commission has accepted and made binding a series of commitments from AliExpress to address various concerns, such as the platforms transparency in advertising and recommendation systems.

Second, following its in-depth investigation, the Commission has preliminarily found AliExpress in breach of its obligation to assess and mitigate risks related to the dissemination of illegal products under the DSA.

Commitments Offered by AliExpress

The Commission has accepted and made binding a series of extensive commitments that address concerns raised by the Commission regarding:

• The platforms systems to monitor and detect illegal products, such as medicines, dietary supplements, and adult material, which are also spread through hidden links and affiliate programs, potentially affecting user health and minors well-being;
• The platforms notice-and-action mechanism to flag illegal products;
• The internal complaint handling system;
• The transparency of AliExpress advertising and recommendation systems, including the ads repository and options to personalize recommendation systems;
• The traceability of traders on AliExpress services;
• Access to public data for researchers.

With these commitments, information and tools to limit the spread of illegal content will be easily accessible to both registered and non-registered users of the platform.

AliExpress has also committed to maintaining a structured internal monitoring framework overseen by a dedicated team to systematically assess the implementation and effectiveness of all these commitments, contributing to regular risk assessment exercises. The platform will submit regular reports to an independent Monitoring Trustee, who will report annually to the Commission on the implementation of the commitments.

Todays decision makes these commitments legally binding, meaning that any breach would immediately result in a breach of the DSA and could therefore lead to fines.

Preliminary Findings on AliExpress Risk Assessment and Mitigation Obligations

Following its in-depth investigation, the Commission has preliminarily found AliExpress in breach of its obligation to assess and mitigate risks related to the dissemination of illegal products under the DSA. In particular, preliminary findings indicate:

• In its risk assessment, AliExpress does not account for the limited resources allocated to its moderation systems to avoid the dissemination of illegal products, thereby underestimating such risk.
• AliExpress fails to appropriately enforce its penalty policy concerning traders who repeatedly post illegal content.
• AliExpress proactive content moderation systems exhibit systemic failures, rendering the systems less effective and allowing manipulation by malicious traders.

These findings violate the obligations of Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) to properly assess and mitigate systemic risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, such as counterfeit goods or goods that do not comply with European safety regulations.

Next Steps

The preliminary findings sent today by the Commission are without prejudice to the final outcome of the investigation, as AliExpress now has the opportunity to exercise its rights of defense by reviewing the documents in the Commissions investigation file and responding in writing to the Commissions preliminary findings.

If the Commissions preliminary view were ultimately confirmed, the Commission would adopt a non-compliance decision stating that AliExpress does not comply with Articles 34 and 35 of the DSA, and impose a fine. Additionally, such a non-compliance decision would require the provider of AliExpress to submit an action plan to remedy the infringement within a specified timeframe, to be approved by the Commission upon the opinion of the Board of Digital Services Coordinators.

Background

On March 14, 2024, the Commission opened formal proceedings to assess whether AliExpress may have breached the Digital Services Act in areas related to risk management and mitigation, content moderation and internal complaint handling, transparency of advertising and recommendation systems, traceability of traders, and data access for researchers.