The platforms have four months to comply with the rules or face penalties of up to 6pc of global revenue.
ChatGPT, Roblox and Reddit will be governed under the EU Digital Services Act’s (DSA) most stringent rules that aim to mitigate risks that large platforms might pose to the safety of the bloc’s users.
The EU brands online services with more than 45m EU-based users as very large online platforms (VLOPs) or very large online search engines (VLOSEs). Once labelled as such, these platforms are required to follow specific rules that mitigate harm to their EU users, including around illegal content, ad transparency, health and safety.
These rules include creating user-friendly terms and conditions, establishing a point of contact for authorities and users, and the reporting of criminal offences. VLOPs and VLOSEs are also required to identify and assess systemic risks that could be linked to their services.
Designated platforms that don’t comply with these rules can face penalties of up to 6pc of their global annual turnover.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Roblox – the popular video game for children – and the online forum Reddit now have four months to comply with their additional obligations in the bloc.
The three new additions take the total platforms designated as VLOPs or VLOSEs to 28, including offerings from X, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, LinkedIn and TikTok. The designations also give the EU additional investigative powers to assess how the platforms function in the bloc. Ireland’s Coimisiún na Meán will also hold special responsibility to oversee ChatGPT and Reddit.
Since the DSA’s enforcement in 2024, the European Commission has launched numerous probes, resulting in penalties to date on X, Temu, and AliExpress – collectively amounting to nearly €900m.
“These new designations mean that ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox will now be held to a higher standard of scrutiny and accountability in the European Union, in line with their large impact on our citizens and society,” said EU executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy Henna Virkkunen.
“We continue to watch the digital landscape closely and will not hesitate to designate any platform that meets the threshold for enhanced supervision under the Digital Services Act.”
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