EU launches investigation into illegal content on Alibaba’s AliExpress | Wilnesh News

The European Commission said on Thursday it had launched a formal investigation into international e-commerce site AliExpress run by the Chinese tech giant Alibabadue to concerns about the spread of illegal content.

The commission, the EU’s executive agency, launched an investigation into AliExpress under the landmark Digital Services Act, which came into effect this month. The sweeping legislation aims to rein in the influence of tech giants in areas such as anti-competitive behavior to ensure misinformation does not flourish on their platforms.

The investigation focuses on whether AliExpress violated the DSA “in areas related to risk management and mitigation, content moderation and internal complaints handling mechanisms, transparency of advertising and recommendation systems, trader traceability and data.” access for researchers,” the committee said.

The committee will investigate whether AliExpress’s own terms of service, which prohibit certain products that pose risks to consumers’ health, such as counterfeit medicines, are poorly enforced.

The investigation will also focus on whether there was a breach of the DSA by allowing minors to access pornographic material, which the commission said consumers could still find on the platform.

Other areas of investigation include how AliExpress recommends products to users and whether e-commerce sites comply with rules that allow searchable ad repositories on the platform.

An AliExpress spokesperson said the company “has been and will continue to cooperate with relevant authorities to ensure that we comply with applicable standards and will continue to ensure that we can meet the requirements of the DSA.”

The spokesperson added: “AliExpress is committed to creating a safe and compliant marketplace for all consumers.”

This is the third formal investigation conducted by the DSA, following investigations into TikTok and social media platform X.