After fining Elon Musk’s X, Brussels is going after unsafe online practices by AliExpress, China’s rival to Amazon.
(CN) – Trade tensions between China and Europe worsened on Monday after the European Union slapped a record 550 million euro fine on AliExpress, China’s rival to Amazon.
The $630m fine was only the third imposed by the EU for breaches of the Digital Services Act Internet security law in effect since 2023.
The EU AliExpress charged for failing to prevent the sale of defective, unsafe and counterfeit products in Europe.
In December, the EU fined Elon Musk’s X platform €120 million for violating the Digital Services Act. Last week, X agreed to open its records external auditors, as requested by the EU, in response to the fine. The highest court of the EU, the European Court of Justice, is reviewing that fine.
“Under the Digital Services Act, very large online platforms are obliged to assess and mitigate systemic risks, including the risk of illegal products available on online platforms,” said Thomas Regnier, a spokesman for the European Commission.
AliExpress is one of the busiest e-commerce sites in the world. Alibaba was founded by Jack Ma and others in 1999.
“We are surprised by the EU’s decision and the disproportionate fine,” AliExpress said in a statement.
The company said it will appeal the decision.
“AliExpress has been and continues to be committed to fulfilling our obligations to customers,” he said.
Details of the investigation — and specifics about what AliExpress did wrong — remained confidential, Regnier said.
Brussels sees its mission as curbing ubiquitous online bad practices by global tech companies, such as lax privacy protections and abusive personalized advertising.
Monday’s announcement came amid a broader push in Europe for it avoid an increase in Chinese imports, especially in electric vehicles and green technology.
Trade relations are at an extremely low point and there is a danger of ia full scale trade war erupting between two of the world’s largest trading partners.
The EU also has opened investigations against Shein AND Beforeother major Chinese retail websites. Last month the EU started uploading a new task on small package shipments from China.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
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