On July 20 the European Commission fined AliExpress 550 million euro under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The reason: the platform failed to do the work of assessing and reducing the risk of selling illegal, dangerous, and counterfeit goods - fake clothes, dangerous toys, harmful cosmetics. For a buyer in the EU, this shows just how much weight big platforms' responsibility now carries.
- The European Commission fined AliExpress 550 million euro under the DSA on July 20, 2026.
- Reason: it failed to assess and reduce the risk of illegal/dangerous/counterfeit goods (fake clothes, dangerous toys, harmful cosmetics).
- The Commission ordered measures. It applies to Bulgaria too - it's in the EU.
Big platforms hid behind 'we're just the marketplace, not the seller' for a long time. In the EU, that excuse just got a lot more expensive.
Bulgaria is in the EU - the DSA applies here too. Ever ordered a cheap toy or charger from a platform like this and wondered who's on the hook if something blows up? Here's the answer: the platform now carries part of the weight, not just the seller somewhere on the other side of the world. 550 million isn't a token sum. That's the price of 'we didn't check enough.'
Here's what follows. This isn't the first such fine - the EU has already hit other big platforms under the same law. But it's a pattern: whoever runs the marketplace answers for what's sold on it. For the small honest seller, that's good news - the rules squeeze the cheap junk that undercuts prices with counterfeits. For the buyer, it's a reason to watch where they order from.