EU assesses ChatGPT under DSA

Brussels is assessing whether ChatGPT belongs under the European Union’s strictest Digital Services Act rules after OpenAI reported user numbers above the law’s 45 million threshold. (kfgo.com) European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said on April 10 that OpenAI had published ChatGPT user numbers above the threshold for designation and that Commission services were assessing the information. Regnier also said large language models had to be analysed “case-by-case” under the law. (kfgo.com) OpenAI’s own European Union Digital Services Act page says ChatGPT search had about 120.4 million average monthly active recipients in the bloc for the six months ending September 30, 2025. The company says that figure was calculated for its Digital Services Act obligations. (help.openai.com) Under the Digital Services Act, services with more than 45 million monthly users in the European Union can be designated as “very large online platforms” or “very large online search engines.” The European Commission says those services face the law’s most stringent rules. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) Those extra rules include a four-month deadline to comply after designation, plus duties to assess and mitigate systemic risks tied to illegal content, fundamental rights, public security, elections, public health, minors, and mental and physical wellbeing. The Commission says designated services may also have to change how their systems work and maintain an internal compliance function. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) The Commission already directly supervises a list of designated giants under the same regime, including Google Search, Bing, YouTube, TikTok, X, Amazon Store, and the App Store. The Commission’s public list was updated on April 1, 2026. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) OpenAI has already set up a government contact point through Kodex for communications with member-state authorities, the European Commission, and the European Board for Digital Services. Its help page also directs non-government users to a separate form for reporting illegal content or policy violations. (help.openai.com) The immediate question is not whether ChatGPT is popular in Europe, but how Brussels classifies it: as a platform, a search engine, or something outside those buckets. The Commission has not announced a designation decision yet. (kfgo.com)