E-commerce marketing · Industry brief

The European Commission fined AliExpress €550 million for failing to mitigate risks related to illegal, unsafe, and counterfeit products under the Digital Services Act. The Commission also issued preliminary findings against Meta and TikTok over compliance failures with minor protection obligations, with potential fines up to 6% of global annual turnover if ultimately found non-compliant. In the UK, Ofcom adopted a register of regulated services and opened consultations on draft codes including a Fraudulent Advertising Code of Practice for Category 1 services (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and others) and Category 2A services (Google Search, Bing, ChatGPT Search), requiring risk-based systems to detect and remove fraudulent advertisements, maintain searchable advertising libraries, and increase transparency on moderation practices. France's Competition Authority imposed interim measures requiring Meta to resume good-faith negotiations with French press publishers over remuneration for press content use. In Korea, the Fair Trade Commission opened an investigation into Google's Games Velocity Program over alleged abuse of dominance through exclusive or most-favored-nation treatment on the Play Store.

Varus, a Ukrainian supermarket chain, completed its acquisition of Kolo convenience store chain in August 2026, gaining 254 stores across Kyiv, Kyiv Region, Odesa and Odesa Region and expanding its combined network to 374 locations. The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine approved the concentration on July 16, 2026. During integration, Kolo stores will initially maintain their existing brand before gradual consolidation of logistics, procurement, digital services and loyalty programs, with Varus leveraging its expertise in marketing, IT and operations to strengthen the combined network.