The European Commission has added ChatGPT to the small club of online services it polices most closely, making OpenAI ‘s chatbot the first AI assistant to fall under the strictest tier of the Digital Services Act. The compliance headaches that Google , Microsoft and Apple have spent years managing in Europe now belong to three more American companies. In the same decision on Monday, Brussels designated Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms.
ChatGPT Reclassified as Search Engine by Commission
The Commission has reclassified ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine, rather than a platform. This decision highlights that a chatbot, which answers queries by retrieving live results from the internet, performs the functions of a search engine, regardless of its interface. As a result, ChatGPT and two other services have four months, until January 2027, to comply with the new classification. Failure to meet these requirements could lead to penalties up to six percent of their global annual turnover.
The threshold for this tier is 45 million average monthly users in the EU, about one in ten people in the bloc. ChatGPT’s search function reported roughly 159 million monthly users for the six months ending March 2026. Reddit declared 57.2 million and Roblox 46.6 million, which puts the gaming platform barely over the line. Brussels has already collected roughly 870 million euros in DSA fines, including 550 million from AliExpress in July and 120 million from X in December.
Because the DSA has now reached generative AI, and the list of US companies with European troubles is three names longer, that argument is about to get louder,.
OpenAI said it accepts that ChatGPT search operates as a search service under the DSA and is preparing for the extra requirements. The work ahead is unglamorous. Each service must run annual systemic risk assessments covering illegal content, harm to minors, users’ physical and mental wellbeing, fundamental rights, elections and public security. They must also open themselves to independent audits and share data with regulators and vetted researchers. Ireland’s Coimisiún na Meán will supervise ChatGPT and Reddit, while the Dutch consumer authority takes Roblox. Roblox called itself the first gaming platform to hit the milestone in the EU. Reddit did not comment. Washington has called such penalties economic extortion and threatened retaliation.