The European Commission has officially designated ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox as "very large" digital platforms under the Digital Services Act (DSA), thereby including the three services among those subject to the regulator's strictest requirements. The decision, reported by RBC-Ukraine citing the text of the regulatory document, means that OpenAI, Reddit, and Roblox are now required to comply with the same accountability standards as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Amazon, and the App Store. European Commission Vice-President for Democracy Virkkunen stated that the services "will be subject to the highest standard of due diligence and accountability in the European Union in line with their significant impact on our citizens and society," adding that Brussels "will not hesitate to grant this status to any platform that meets the criteria."
The 45-Million Threshold: How the Services Came Under Enhanced Oversight
The key basis for the decision was the achievement by all three platforms of the legislatively defined threshold of 45 million active users per month within the European Union. It is precisely this metric, enshrined in the DSA text, that serves as the trigger for automatically placing a platform under enhanced oversight by the European Commission. Crossing the threshold means that the regulator gains expanded powers to monitor the service's activities, demand reports on systemic risks, and, where necessary, apply sanctions. As a result, ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox have ceased to be "ordinary" online services from the perspective of European law and have entered the exclusive club of the continent's largest digital actors.
Classification: Why ChatGPT Is a "Search Engine" While Reddit and Roblox Are "Platforms"
Under the DSA, each service received a detailed legal qualification. ChatGPT was recognized as a "Very Large Online Search Engine" — a status previously held exclusively by Google Search and Microsoft Bing. Reddit and Roblox were granted the status of "Very Large Online Platforms," joining the list alongside Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Amazon, and the App Store. The classification of OpenAI's chatbot was the result of lengthy internal discussions within the European Commission: the DSA was adopted in 2022, when the mass adoption of generative AI had not yet occurred, and the regulator had to adapt existing legal categories to the realities of a new technological era. The decision on ChatGPT effectively extends the practice of applying the DSA to AI services — it is worth recalling that the EU is currently investigating X's Grok chatbot.
Four Months to Adapt: What Obligations Have Been Imposed on the Companies
The new status imposes a range of strict obligations on OpenAI, Reddit, and Roblox, for which the companies have been given a four-month deadline — until the end of December 2026. Among the key requirements: the prompt detection and removal of illegal content; the protection of minors, including ensuring the privacy, physical, and mental well-being of children and adolescents; regular assessment of systemic risks, including algorithmic ones — the spread of disinformation, threats to citizens' fundamental rights, the destructive impact on electoral processes, and public safety; as well as algorithmic transparency, meaning the disclosure of details on how recommendation systems and data-processing mechanisms work. Failure to meet these requirements carries fines of up to 6 percent of the offending company's annual global turnover — a sanction comparable to those already applied against other platforms.
Industry Reaction and the Context of Enforcement Practice
Representatives of the technology companies reacted to the decision in a restrained, positive manner. OpenAI expressed its readiness to comply with the additional requirements of EU legislation. Reddit noted that it had been preparing in advance for obtaining very large platform status and expects constructive coordination with the regulators. Roblox expressed "pride" at being the first gaming platform to reach the 45-million-user mark in the EU, emphasizing that "safety is the foundation of the service's work." The decision on the three new platforms fits into the European Commission's overall line of strict enforcement practice: in December, X was fined 120 million euros for misleading users with "blue check" verification marks and insufficient transparency in advertising; in July, the Chinese marketplace AliExpress received a fine of 550 million euros for inadequate efforts to combat the sale of illegal goods; TikTok has faced claims over the use of infinite scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications, deemed potentially harmful. At the same time as the DSA is being strengthened in Europe, the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is entering into force, and antitrust investigations — in particular, into Google's use of AI-generated reviews — continue, forming a multi-level system of regulation of the digital ecosystem.
