Commission finds AliExpress in breach of illegal content rules

Euronews

4 hours ago

The European Commission has notified Chinese online marketplace AliExpress that it is in breach of the bloc's online platform rules for not taking enough measures to counter illegal products.
Preliminary results of its investigation into the platform's alleged breaches the Digital Services Act (DSA) – EU rules that oblige online platforms to counter illegal content and products online – were sent to AliExpress on Tuesday.
The Commission's began an investigation in March 2024 focussing on several areas including risk mitigation, content moderation and the internal complaint handling mechanism, as well as transparency of advertising and recommender systems.
The Commission's preliminary findings suggest that AliExpress devotes limited resources to moderation systems designed to avoid the dissemination of illegal products, underplaying risks.
'The company also fails to appropriately enforce its penalty policy concerning traders that repeatedly post illegal content, and its content moderation systems show systemic failures, making the systems less effective and allowing manipulation by malicious traders,' the Commission's statement said.
The platform now has time to react to the findings before the Commission decides on next steps. If the EU executive confirms the breach in a final decision, it could impose a fine of up to 6% of the company's global turnover.
At the same time, the Commission accepted voluntary commitments made by the platform on some of the other grievances of the probe and made them binding.
The commitments related to the notice and action mechanism, transparency of advertising and data access for researchers as well as the platform's systems to monitor and detect illegal products, such as medicines, food supplements and others which could affect users' health and minors' well-being.
By making the commitments binding, the Commission closed these parts of the investigation.
The AliExpress case is the second most advanced DSA probe since the platform rules entered into force late 2023. The Commission also sent preliminary findings to X related to risk management, content moderation and dark patterns. It has further investigations pending into platforms including Facebook and Instagram.
Under the DSA, companies with more than 45 million users are considered Very Large Online Platforms (VLOP) meaning that they face stricter rules to fight illegal and harmful content and counterfeit products on their platforms.
The Dutch government advised parents not to allow their children under age 15 to use social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, citing psychological and physical problems among kids, including panic attacks, depression, and difficulties sleeping.
The country's health ministry also encouraged parents to limit how long their children spend using electronic devices, keep phones and laptops out of bedrooms, and have 20 minutes of screen time followed by two hours of outside play.
The advisory 'gives children the time to further develop digital resilience and media literacy,' Vincent Karremans, caretaker deputy minister for youth and sport in the Netherlands, said in a letter to parliament.
Karremans is one of several ministers who remained on after the Dutch government collapsed earlier this month pending October elections.
Both TikTok and Instagram require users to be at least 13 years of age.
The guidelines, which are not legally binding, distinguish between 'social media' sites like TikTok and Instagram and 'social interaction platforms' such as messaging services WhatsApp and Signal.
The social media sites have 'significantly more addictive design features' that have a negative impact on children, the government said.
Children can use the messaging services from age 13, the year most Dutch children start secondary school, according to the recommendations.
Last year, Australia became the first country in the world to ban children under 16 from using social media. Denmark and France are considering similar legislation, and Sweden issued recommendations about limiting screen time for children last year.
A group of experts, put together at the request of the Dutch parliament, found that intense screen time and social media usage can result in physical and psychological problems in children.
Dutch schools have banned students from using tablets, cell phones, and smart watches, with some exceptions, such as classes on media literacy.
In May, some 1,400 doctors and child welfare experts in the Netherlands signed a public letter, calling on the government to ban children under 14 from having cell phones and restricting social media usage until age 16.
In February, Dutch Queen Máxima said that her youngest daughter, Princess Ariane, had eyesight problems from spending too much time on mobile devices.