EU designates ChatGPT a very large online search engine

The European Commission designated ChatGPT a Very Large Online Search Engine under the Digital Services Act on 31 August 2026, placing it in the same regulatory category as Google Search and Microsoft Bing.

The Commission said ChatGPT met the threshold because it exceeds 45 million monthly users in the EU, with OpenAI reporting about 159.1 million average monthly active recipients of ChatGPT search over the six months to 31 March 2026.

The Commission also designated Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms in the same round of decisions, bringing the total number of designated very large platforms and search engines to 28.

"ChatGPT is a hybrid service that qualifies as an online search engine under the DSA," the Commission said, explaining that the chatbot answers user prompts and can search the web.

OpenAI has four months, until the end of December 2026, to comply with additional obligations under the DSA. These include assessing and reducing systemic risks such as illegal content, threats to elections, fundamental rights and risks to minors.

The company must also give researchers access to data, explain how its ranking and recommendation systems work, offer a non-personalised option to users, avoid targeting minors with ads or using sensitive personal traits for ad targeting, and undergo annual independent risk audits, according to the Commission.

Failure to comply can bring fines of up to 6% of OpenAI's global annual revenue, the Commission said. The designation follows the EU AI Act's transparency rules becoming enforceable in August, which reports say is part of why OpenAI and Meta are holding back some AI agents from Europe, according to Search Engine Journal.

OpenAI now has until the end of December 2026 to show it meets the new requirements, the European Commission said.