ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox join the EU's big tech naughty list

The European Commission has officially added three major digital services to its top-tier regulatory watchlist under the Digital Services Act (DSA). OpenAI's conversational AI assistant, ChatGPT, has been formally designated as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE). Meanwhile, social discussion platform Reddit and children's virtual world Roblox have both been classified as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs).

The decisions place all three services in the highest risk category established by the EU's landmark digital governance framework. Until now, the Commission's primary enforcement focus under the DSA had landed predominantly on established social media networks, major e-commerce marketplaces, and traditional web search engines. By pulling an artificial intelligence chatbot, an anonymous discussion board, and an interactive gaming ecosystem into the same regulatory tier, European regulators are signaling that their enforcement net extends well beyond traditional social feeds.

Under the DSA framework, platforms and search engines automatically trigger these specialized designations once they cross the threshold of 45 million monthly active users within the European Union—a figure equivalent to roughly 10 percent of the bloc's population. Crossing that line strips companies of the standard, lighter regime applied to smaller digital services, placing them under direct supervision from the European Commission in Brussels alongside national regulators.

Earning a VLOP or VLOSE badge in Brussels is not a achievement to celebrate; it is an invitation to intensive administrative oversight and serious regulatory exposure. The DSA subjects top-tier platforms to its most demanding compliance regime, requiring them to systematically analyze, report, and mitigate systemic risks generated by their systems.

For Reddit and Roblox, the designation requires formal evaluations of how their platforms might facilitate the spread of illegal content, harm public debate, or pose risks to minors. Roblox, which caters heavily to children, faces particularly stringent expectations regarding age assurance, parental safety controls, and protection against online exploitation. Reddit, built around pseudonymous communities and user moderation, will have to demonstrate that its automated recommendation engines do not amplify hate speech, illegal material, or coordinated manipulation.

ChatGPT's classification as a search engine carries its own distinct weight. As millions of internet users increasingly turn to conversational AI models instead of traditional keyword searches to navigate online information, Brussels is insisting that generative tools accept search-engine-style accountability. OpenAI will need to mitigate risks unique to large language models, including the hallucination of false information, automated generation of illicit material, and potential electoral manipulation.

The enforcement stakes are high. Companies that fail to satisfy DSA compliance obligations face fines reaching up to 6 percent of their total global annual turnover, alongside daily penalty payments designed to compel obedience.

For the Berlaymont, these designations mark an important expansion of the EU's digital perimeter. When the DSA was originally drafted, lawmakers were principally focused on the dominant Silicon Valley social platforms of the previous decade. Classifying ChatGPT as a search engine demonstrates how quickly the Commission is trying to adapt its existing rulebook to encompass artificial intelligence tools that serve as primary portals to information.

By categorizing ChatGPT alongside traditional search engines rather than treating it as a novel, unclassifiable software experiment, the Commission is setting a firm precedent: if a service helps millions of citizens retrieve, index, and synthesize knowledge across the single market, it must bear full systemic safety responsibilities.

Simultaneously, bringing Roblox into the top regulatory tier highlights growing anxiety among European policymakers over user safety in virtual spaces and gaming platforms frequented by younger demographics. Inside the Commission's digital policy directorate, platform oversight is increasingly viewed through the lens of child safety and systemic risk mitigation rather than simple post-hoc content moderation.

Following official designation, the clock begins ticking immediately for OpenAI, Reddit, and Roblox. Under standard DSA rules, newly designated VLOPs and VLOSEs are given a four-month window to align their operational procedures with the law's strictest requirements.

During this transition period, all three companies must draft and submit their first detailed systemic risk assessment reports directly to European Commission officials. These filings must lay out concrete strategies for mitigating illegal content, safeguarding child safety and mental health, preventing algorithmic bias, and protecting civic debate.

The companies will also be required to open their internal systems to independent annual compliance audits, set up searchable public repositories for digital advertising, grant vetted academic researchers access to platform data, and pay an annual supervisory fee to help bankroll the Commission's enforcement operations in Brussels.