EU Designates ChatGPT as a Very Large Search Engine Under DSA

On August 31, the European Commission announced that, under the Digital Services Act (DSA), OpenAI's ChatGPT has been designated a "Very Large Online Search Engine" (VLOSE), while Reddit and Roblox were classified as "Very Large Online Platforms." This marks the first time ChatGPT has been placed in the DSA's strictest regulatory category, signaling a new phase in the EU's oversight of AI services.

Confirmed

The designation is based on the service reaching the DSA threshold of 45 million average monthly active users in the EU (m3, m4 secondhand accounts)
ChatGPT must comply with stricter obligations, including risk assessments, independent audits, and data transparency measures (m2, m4, m5 secondhand accounts)
The companies involved have four months to meet the additional DSA obligations (m1, m2, m3 secondhand accounts)
Additional obligations include preventing the system from being abused to spread illegal content, influence elections, or harm users (m5 secondhand account)

Why it matters

ChatGPT was categorized as a "search engine" rather than an "online platform," meaning generative AI Q&A services are being regulated by the EU as information retrieval gateways for the first time, potentially setting a precedent for other AI assistant services
The 45-million-MAU threshold is the DSA's dividing line between ordinary and very large services; crossing it triggers the strictest regulatory obligations

2026-08-31 ~ 2026-08-31 · 6 related posts

Primary sources

EU designates ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox under strictest digital safety rules with 4-month deadline — Polymarket · 2026-08-31 21:39 (UTC+08:00)
EU designates ChatGPT as very large online platform under stricter DSA rules — Hesamation · 2026-08-31 19:25 (UTC+08:00)
EU Designates ChatGPT as Very Large Online Search Engine — LuizaJarovsky · 2026-08-31 20:39 (UTC+08:00)

[source] EU designates ChatGPT as very large online platform under stricter DSA rules — Hesamation · 2026-08-31
EU designates ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine under DSA — Hakan_Ozalp · 2026-08-31
EU Designates ChatGPT as Very Large Online Search Engine, Triggering Extra Obligations — AIFlow_ML · 2026-08-31
[source] EU Designates ChatGPT as Very Large Online Search Engine — LuizaJarovsky · 2026-08-31
[source] EU designates ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox under strictest digital safety rules with 4-month deadline — Polymarket · 2026-08-31
ChatGPT hits 159M EU users; Commission cites scale to push more regulation — ccerrato147 · 2026-08-31