Commission makes AliExpress’ commitments under the Digital Services Act binding

Alongside its preliminary findings regarding AliExpress’ compliance with the DSA, the Commission has accepted and made binding a series of commitments proposed by the platform. These commitments address issues raised in the formal proceedings opened on 14 March 2024 under the DSA, including:

• The platform’s verification, monitoring and detection systems aiming at mitigating certain risks related to hidden links, its affiliate programme and products potentially affecting health and minors
• The platform’s notice and action mechanism
• The internal complaint handling system
• The transparency of AliExpress’ advertising and recommender systems
• The traceability of traders on AliExpress’ services
• Access to public data for researchers

Any breach of the commitments would immediately result in a breach of the DSA and could therefore lead to fines.

On the basis of a specific monitoring framework, including also regular reports of a Monitoring Trustee, the Commission will continue to monitor AliExpress’ compliance with the commitments as well as their effectiveness. In particular, the Commission may reopen proceedings in case of material change to any of the facts on the basis of which the decision was based, where AliExpress acts contrary to its own commitments and where it would result that the decision was based on incomplete, incorrect or misleading information provided by AliExpress.

AliExpress’ commitments

On the assessment and mitigation of specific risks of dissemination of illegal content and content affecting health and minors

• A commitment to complement with controls by specialised third party in addition to its internal monitoring and detection of so-called ‘hidden links’ practices, using fake listings to sell illegal, usually counterfeited, products,
• A commitment to strengthen its penalties and their enforcement against sellers and members of the 'Affiliate Programme' involved in such hidden links schemes
• A commitment to implement a robust onboarding and screening process for partners promoting AliExpress’ products through the Affiliate Programme, including strict enforcement and a penalty system for non-compliant partners of the programme.
• A commitment to apply an enhanced verification process for food supplement sellers and food supplements product listings, including their authorisations and health claims, as well as an ad hoc screening of the platform by a specialised third party for the identification of prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs.  
• A default system to limit visibility of products intended for adults with functionalities such as automatically blurring images of adult products using AI-powered real-time scanning technology.

On the notice and action and internal complaint handling mechanisms 

• A commitment to make the notice and action mechanism available to both registered and non-registered users, with a clearly labelled and dedicated button to simplify the process of reporting content.
• A commitment to enable both registered and non-registered users to easily appeal content moderation decisions through a dedicated link in the decision.
• A commitment to provide feedback on appeals in due course, with relevant information on possibilities of redress for users and on the potential use of automated means for processing the notices.

 On the transparency of its advertisement systems

• A commitment to clearly mark all advertisements, for example, with an ‘Ad’ label, including when shown to non-registered users. By interacting with this label, users will be able to access information such as the main targeting criteria, the identity of the advertiser, and the party on whose behalf the advertisement was placed.
• A commitment to maintain an up-to-date an advertisement repository and make it accessible to all users and searchable across different parameters. An API will be provided to allow EU users to independently access and extract advertisement-related data.

 On the transparency of its recommender systems

• A commitment to introduce a user-friendly option for both registered and non-registered users to exercise options as regards personalisation of recommendations for each of its recommender systems.
• A commitment to maintain, in the Terms and Conditions, in the Transparency Centre and in the search results page, easily accessible information, in plain language, on how products are recommended on the platform’s website and mobile app.

 On the traceability of traders

• A commitment to implement a more robust verification of sellers, including strengthened identity checks through relevant technological means.
• A commitment to keep such information about the seller directly accessible from the respective product listing page.

 On access to public data for researchers

• A commitment to enable researchers who meet the criteria set out in Article 40(12) of the Digital Services Act to independently access and use public data to analyse systemic risks via automated means, such as ‘data scraping’.
• A commitment to maintaining a dedicated API, allowing eligible researchers to retrieve and download relevant data.
• A commitment to make customised datasets available to eligible researchers upon request.
• A commitment to maintain a webpage providing relevant information on data access for researchers.

AliExpress also commits to maintaining a structured internal monitoring framework, overseen by a dedicated team, to systematically assess the proper implementation and effectiveness of all commitments for their 5-years duration. This information will also need to be taken into account for the regular risk assessment exercises and will be available to audit compliance with the DSA obligations.

In addition, AliExpress will also submit regular reports to a specific independent Monitoring Trustee about the implementation of the commitments. This Trustee will report its views to the Commission about implementation after the initial phase, in November 2025, as well as after the first and the second year of application, or in the event of any anomaly observed.