EU Commission investigates AliExpress for potential breaches of Digital Services Act obligations, focusing on content moderation and consumer protection concerns.
The European Commission has unlocked formal proceedings to evaluate whether AliExpress may have violated the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas connected to the management and mitigation of risks, content restraint, and the internal objection handling mechanism, to the clarity of advertising and recommender methods, to the traceability of traders and data access for researchers.
AliExpress was nominated as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) on 25 April 2023 under the EU’s Digital Services Act, following its proclamation of having 104.3 million monthly vibrant users in the EU. As a VLOP, four months after its identification, AliExpress had to comply with a series of commitments set out in the DSA. Since 17 February, the Digital Services Act has involved all online intermediaries in the EU.
Based on the preliminary examination conducted so far, including the investigation of the risk assessment report sent by AliExpress in August 2023, the report published in its Transparency report, and its replies to the Commission’s formal proposals for information (from 6 November 2023 and 18 January 2024), the Commission has chosen to open formal proceedings against AliExpress under the Digital Services Act.
The proceedings will concentrate on compliance with the DSA obligations connected to the assessment and comfort of the systemic risks of dissemination of prohibited content, as well as actual or foreseeable adverse effects for consumer protection related in particular to The absence of enforcement of AliExpress’ terms of service restricting certain products posing dangers for consumers’ health (such as fake medications and food as well as dietary supplements) and for children specifically (access to pornographic material), which consumer can still find on the platform.
Furthermore, the proceeding will examine The lack of effective measures to prevent the dissemination of illegal content; The lack of effective measures to prevent deliberate manipulation on the online platform via so-called ‘hidden links’; The lack of effective actions to prevent risks deriving from components, such as influencers promoting illegal or dangerous products through the “Affiliate Programme” of AliExpress.
If non-compliance with the DSA is proven, the failures would include breaches of the Articles of the DSA. The Commission will now undertake an in-depth investigation as a matter of priority. The opening of formal proceedings does not prejudge the outcome. In the Next Steps, After the formal commencement of proceedings, the Commission will persist in gathering evidence, for example by transmitting additional requests for information, and conducting interviews or inspections.
The opening of formal proceedings authorizes the Commission to take further enforcement measures, such as interim efforts ordering to terminate or fix a violation of Article 28(1), and non-compliance findings. The Commission is also licensed to accept commitments made by AliExpress to heal the matters subject to the proceeding.
The DSA does not impose any legal deadline for obtaining formal proceedings to a stop. The course of an in-depth investigation relies on several factors, including the sophistication of the case, the extent to which the company involved cooperates with the Commission, and the exercise of the rights of defense.
