EUROPEAN UNION — OpenAI is required to mitigate risks related to ChatGPT’s impact on minors, user mental health, and the spread of illegal content in the European Union. ChatGPT is a generative AI chatbot developed by OpenAI that uses large language models to generate text, speech, and images in response to user prompts.

"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," EU executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy Henna Virkkunen said.

Why It Matters

The Digital Services Act is a European Union Regulation on strengthening consumer protection for digital services and products. The European Commission is primarily responsible for the monitoring and enforcement of the additional obligations applying to the biggest platforms and search engines, such as the measures to mitigate systemic risks.

The legislation restricts platforms from targeting ads to minors and from using a person’s sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, or political beliefs for ad targeting. The Digital Services Act requires platforms to provide transparency about how their recommendation algorithms work.

What's New

ChatGPT was designated as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) by the European Commission on 31 August 2026, and it reported 159.1 million average monthly active users in the EU as of March 2026. Non-compliant Very Large Online Platforms may face fines of up to 6 percent of their global revenue.

Digital Services Act is a European Union Regulation on strengthening consumer protection for digital services and products.