Verified Backfilled · Original publication August 31, 2026Policy & RegulationSearch & AI Discovery EU Commission Press ·

European Commission Designates ChatGPT as VLOSE, Reddit and Roblox as VLOPs Under DSA

Open source ↗

Summary

The European Commission has officially designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) under the Digital Services Act (DSA). In the same regulatory decision, the Commission also designated Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs).

Insight

Categorizing an AI conversational system as a search engine under the DSA formally bridges generative AI tools and traditional web search regulations, subjecting AI-driven retrieval to systemic risk assessments, transparency requirements, and algorithmic oversight.

Implication

OpenAI will need to adhere to strict EU search-engine-level compliance obligations for ChatGPT, while platforms like Reddit and Roblox face heightened platform governance, content moderation scrutiny, and risk assessment audits.

Why it matters

Classifying generative AI chat tools as search engines establishes a major regulatory precedent that extends European search governance directly into the operations of AI query retrieval and indexing systems.

Evidence