The European Commission designates ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox as major platforms under the Digital Services Act

The European Commission has designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) and Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The announcement, dated August 31, 2026, is based on these services' own declarations that they reach at least 45 million average monthly active users in the European Union, the threshold that triggers this level of enhanced supervision.

From the notification of these designations, the three companies have four months —until January 2027— to comply with the additional obligations the DSA imposes on VLOPs and VLOSEs. These include the obligation to assess and mitigate the systemic risks stemming from their services and algorithmic systems, specifically in relation to the spread of illegal content, negative effects on minors, users' physical and mental well-being, fundamental rights, electoral processes and public security.

The designation is especially significant in ChatGPT's case, as it represents formal recognition by Brussels that a conversational assistant based on generative AI operates, for regulatory purposes, as a large-scale search engine. This extends the DSA's scope beyond the social networks and e-commerce platforms traditionally associated with the rules, placing conversational AI systems under the same systemic-risk oversight regime that already applies to giants such as Google Search, Bing, Facebook and TikTok.

For Reddit and Roblox, joining the VLOP list means becoming part of an already sizable group of platforms subject to annual risk audits, greater transparency in their recommendation and advertising systems, and the obligation to provide data access to authorized researchers. Roblox's case is particularly sensitive given its enormous base of underage users, which will put the regulatory spotlight on the child protection measures the platform implements ahead of the January 2027 deadline.

The Commission's statement does not give exact EU user figures for each service, nor does it specify concrete penalties for non-compliance, instead pointing to general documentation on VLOP/VLOSE supervision and to the DSA itself for further information.