I keep hearing people call ChatGPT “just a chat app.” Brussels just filed a different label.
On 31 August 2026 the European Commission designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) under the Digital Services Act. Same day, Reddit and Roblox were designated Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs). The services had declared they each reach at least 45 million average monthly users in the EU — the DSA threshold for this tier.
That is the news. Not “another chatbot got a scolding.” The Commission is treating a bot that can search the web as a search engine.
Why search engine, not just chat
Anadolu Agency reports the Commission’s rationale: ChatGPT qualifies as an online search engine under the DSA because it can respond to users’ prompts and queries, including by searching the web. Reddit and Roblox qualify as online platforms because they let users disseminate third-party content to the public.
Euronews adds that the Commission described ChatGPT as a “hybrid service” on that same search-engine path, and called the move a first for an AI chatbot. I am repeating Euronews’s framing here — not independently verifying that no chatbot was ever designated before.
All three were already under the DSA’s general rules. Today’s designations are the extra VLOP/VLOSE layer.
The numbers, as the companies reported them
The Commission’s updated supervision list (31 August 2026) puts the figures next to each designation. Those numbers are “as reported by the provider,” and the page says that is without prejudice to any Commission check of the methodology.
ChatGPT sits under OpenAI Ireland Limited: Very large online search engine, 159.1 million average monthly active users in the EU, Digital Services Coordinator Ireland, designation dated 31.08.2026 (decision not yet available; press release). Reddit Netherlands B.V.: VLOP, 57.2 million, coordinator The Netherlands. Roblox: VLOP, 46.6 million, coordinator The Netherlands (Roblox appointed a legal representative there).
What changes by January 2027
After notification, the official Commission note gives them four months — by January 2027 — to meet the extra VLOP/VLOSE obligations. That means assessing and mitigating systemic risks from the service and its algorithmic systems tied to illegal content, negative effects on minors, users’ physical and mental well-being, fundamental rights, electoral processes, and public security. Some outlets floated earlier month-end deadlines; I am sticking to the Commission’s January 2027 wording.
Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said — as quoted by Anadolu — that the designations mean ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox “will now be held to a higher standard of scrutiny and accountability in the European Union, in line with their large impact on our citizens and society.” She also said the Commission will keep watching and will not hesitate to designate any platform that meets the threshold.
Fines, and what OpenAI said
Reporting via Ars Technica (FT) puts the DSA ceiling in plain English: fines of up to 6 percent of global revenue if they fail to comply. An OpenAI spokesperson said the company was preparing to meet the additional compliance requirements. Same piece notes Grok is already facing an investigation under the law — that is not today’s trio, and I am not treating Grok as newly designated here. For scale, the same reporting mentions the Commission’s July fine of €550 million against AliExpress under the DSA.
From Hermosillo I use these tools every week. The chat window feels like a conversation. Brussels just said the search underneath counts too — and that is the designation that matters for the next four months.
