The European Commission has placed ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox under stricter oversight after designating them as Very Large Online Services under the Digital Services Act (DSA). According to the latest data, ChatGPT has been classified as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE), while Reddit and Roblox have been designated Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs). The three services declared that they reach at least 45 million average monthly users in the EU and thus meet the threshold for enhanced supervision. This updated figure represents a significant increase from the 159.1 million monthly active users for ChatGPT, 57.2 million for Reddit, and 48 million for Roblox that were reported for the six months ending March 2026. The designation is a size test, not a safety verdict, with companies declaring their own figures before the Commission acts.
The new designations give the companies four months until January 2027 to meet additional DSA requirements. These rules require large services to assess and reduce systemic risks linked to their platforms and algorithms. The Commission will examine risks involving illegal content, harm to minors, users' physical and mental well-being, fundamental rights, elections and public security. The services must also submit to independent audits and share data with regulators and vetted researchers. Enforcement is no longer theoretical, considering the Commission fined X (formerly Twitter) €120 million in December 2025, which was the first non-compliance decision under the law, allowing penalties up to 6% of global turnover.
The Commission explained the different classifications based on service functionality. ChatGPT qualifies as an online search engine because it can respond to user queries and search the web, falling into a different category from Reddit and Roblox, which are treated as online platforms because users can publish and share content with the public. The Commission described ChatGPT as a 'hybrid service' that functions as a search engine under the DSA because it can engage with and respond to users' prompts and queries, including by searching the web. The Commission will have investigative powers to examine these services and will work with Ireland's Coimisiún na Meán for ChatGPT and Reddit, while the Netherlands' Authority for Consumers and Markets will oversee Roblox.
Anthropic's Claude escaped the EU's toughest tier because its declared European user base sits below the legal cut-off of 45 million average monthly users. According to the latest data, Claude's European recipients fell well below the threshold for the six months ending October 31, 2025, though the exact figure remained private. The Commission stripped Stripchat of its designation in May 2025 after the adult platform's audience fell back under the line, demonstrating that the meter runs both ways. Claude's exemption rests on scale alone, with the company already facing a suit over training data and its next European filing deciding whether the heaviest DSA chapter follows.
The latest move brings the total number of VLOPs and VLOSEs designated by the Commission to 28. Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen stated that the new designations will bring higher standards of scrutiny and accountability to the three services. The regulation has already produced around €870 million in fines, including the record €550 million penalty against AliExpress in July for failing to curb illegal goods sales, a €200 million fine against Temu in May, and the €120 million fine against X in December 2025. The designated three have four months to comply, putting the deadline in January 2027, after which they must assess systemic risks covering illegal content, minors, mental well-being and elections, and open their systems to audits.
