Regulators are playing whack-a-mole with dangerous goods on huge shopping apps

July 21, 2026 — 3:51pm

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Policing the products sold via online marketplace giants such as Chinese companies AliExpress, Temu and Shein has become a game of whack-a-mole for consumer regulators around the world.

The discounting sites hold an allure for shoppers who can ignore or overlook the risks of shopping on what can be equivalent to Wild West retail forums and pile into go-to categories from branded counterfeit apparel to dangerous toys and unsafe cosmetics.

The European Commission has just slapped its largest ever fine on Chinese marketplace AliExpress for allowing the sale of dangerous, counterfeit and illegal goods on its site, and issued a stinging rebuke of its failure to police the products sitting on its digital shelves.

The almost $900 million impost is being appealed by AliExpress on the grounds it is disproportionately large and failed to reflect........

© The Age