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Google, Microsoft and Apple’s ‘European troubles’ now also become of OpenAI, Roblox and Reddit, as Europe cannot stop…

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. In the same decision on Monday, Brussels designated Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms. The compliance headaches that Google, Microsoft and Apple have spent years managing in Europe now belong to three more American companies.ChatGPT has been classified as a Very Large Online Search Engine rather than a platform, and that is the part worth paying attention to. The Commission decided that a chatbot answering prompts by pulling live results off the web is doing a search engine’s job, whatever the interface looks like. The three services have four months, until January 2027, to comply. The penalty ceiling for failing is six per cent of global annual turnover.
The EU has decided a chatbot that searches the web is a search engine
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. Companies self-declare these numbers, and all three did.EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said the three services would now be held to a “higher standard of scrutiny and accountability”, in line with their impact on citizens. The DSA’s strictest tier now covers 28 platforms and search engines.
Compliance under the Digital Services Act means audits, risk reports and open data
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.OpenAI said it accepts that ChatGPT search operates as a search service under the DSA and is preparing for the extra requirements. Roblox called itself the first gaming platform to hit the milestone in the EU. Reddit did not comment.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. Washington has called such penalties economic extortion and threatened retaliation. That argument is about to get louder, because the DSA has now reached generative AI, and the list of US companies with European troubles is three names longer.
