The EU now officially considers ChatGPT a threat big enough to regulate like a search engine. That’s a significant call, and it comes with real consequences. As reported by Engadget, the European Commission has designated OpenAI’s ChatGPT as a “Very Large Online Search Engine” and Reddit and Roblox as “Very Large Online Platforms” under the Digital Services Act. All three crossed the 45 million monthly active EU user threshold that triggers the most demanding rules in the DSA framework.
What does that actually mean? These platforms now face tighter oversight on how their algorithms operate, how they handle illegal content, how they protect minors, and how they might influence elections. They’ll also have to share data with the Commission and national authorities, submit to annual independent audits, and open up their platforms to approved researchers. Four months to get compliant. That’s the window.
This matters because the DSA’s “very large” designation is not symbolic. It’s an enforcement mechanism with teeth. The EU has already used it against Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, and earlier this year WhatsApp was pulled into the same tier. ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox bring the total to 28 designated services. The Commission is methodically expanding its oversight list as platforms hit user thresholds, and that list is only going to grow.
For users, the implications are real. More auditor scrutiny and researcher access to platform data could expose how these systems actually work, which is something these companies have historically resisted. Reddit issued a statement saying it’s “committed to complying” and has been preparing. OpenAI and Roblox had not responded at time of publication. Watch what they do, not what they say.