March 14 (UPI) — The European Commission on Thursday opened an inquiry into Chinese-based retail outlet AliExpress, which is a subsidiary of Alibaba, over the sale of illegal content.
The commission said it aimed to assess whether AliExpress violated the bloc’s Digital Services Act “in areas linked to the management and mitigation of risks, to content moderation and internal complaint handling mechanism.”
It said AliExpress did not take adequate measures to inform customers of the health risks associated with certain products and did not provide protections against minors obtaining pornography.
The commission further said the platform did not have effective measures to prevent the spread of illegal content or measures to prevent manipulation through so-called “hidden links.”
According to the Commission, the opening of an investigation gives investigators broad powers to request evidence and implement temporary restrictions.
“The opening of formal proceedings empowers the Commission to take further enforcement steps, such as interim measures to terminate or remedy an infringement,” the Commission said.
An AliExpress spokesperson told CNBC the company had been working and planned to continue working with “the relevant authorities on making sure we comply with applicable standards and will continue to ensure that we will be able to meet the requirements of the DSA” while also remaining committed to “creating a safe and compliant marketplace for all customers.”
Since the DSA took effect last month, the European Commission has already opened probes into social media platforms TikTok and X.
