European Commission Places ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox Under Very Large Service Oversight
On August 31, under the Digital Services Act, the European Commission designated ChatGPT as a “very large online search engine” and Reddit and Roblox as “very large online platforms.” All three services have at least 45 million average monthly users in the EU. Within four months of designation, they must submit systemic risk assessments, undergo external audits, and expand researcher data access and transparency disclosures.
On August 31, under the Digital Services Act, the European Commission designated ChatGPT as a “very large online search engine” and Reddit and Roblox as “very large online platforms.” All three services have at least 45 million average monthly users in the EU. Within four months of designation, they must submit systemic risk assessments, undergo external audits, and expand researcher data access and transparency disclosures; the Commission set the deadline at the end of November.
Regulation of ChatGPT had previously focused largely on model training, copyright, and the AI Act. This designation adds ongoing obligations for large-scale search and content distribution, bringing compliance costs tied to user scale into auditing, data governance, and risk reporting. The designation itself is not a penalty. The risk assessments due before the end of November will provide the first actionable guidance.
Source check European Commission designation announcement ↗ · Reuters report ↗