Published on September 2, 2026 · The mitza.es team
On August 31, 2026, the European Commission designated ChatGPT as a "Very Large Online Search Engine" (VLOSE) under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). It's the first time an AI chatbot has received this classification, and it comes just weeks after we already covered how ChatGPT and Gemini are taking traffic share from Google in Spain.
What a VLOSE is, and why ChatGPT crossed that threshold
The DSA sets the VLOSE bar at 45 million average monthly active users in the EU. ChatGPT clears it by a wide margin: its EU monthly active users have been reported at 159.1 million, more than three times the threshold. The classification isn't based on ChatGPT as a chatbot in general, but specifically on its live web-search function, the feature that lets it crawl the web in real time and cite sources in its answers. It's a capability-based regulatory approach, not one aimed at the tool's overall nature.
Reddit and Roblox designated the same day
On that same day, August 31, 2026, the Commission also designated Reddit and Roblox as "Very Large Online Platforms" (VLOP), a related but distinct category under the DSA. All three services (ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox) now have four months, until the end of November 2026, to meet the DSA's strictest obligations: annual systemic risk assessments, independent audits, and data-access mechanisms for regulators and vetted researchers.
What OpenAI risks if it doesn't comply
Failing to meet these obligations can bring fines of up to 6% of the company's global annual turnover, one of the toughest enforcement regimes in any digital regulation worldwide. This isn't a theoretical threat: in December 2025, X (formerly Twitter) was already fined €120 million under the DSA, a precedent that makes clear Brussels is willing to enforce the rule firmly against major US tech platforms too.
Why this matters if you run a website or business in Spain
This designation confirms something that was already becoming clear: AI search tools have stopped being an experimental novelty and are being formalized as a permanent search channel, subject to the same transparency and accountability requirements as any major digital platform. Regulators have already said this capability-based approach could extend to other tools with live search features (Gemini, Claude, Perplexity) as they scale, so this isn't a one-off case, it's the start of a pattern. For any business, the practical takeaway is the same one we already flagged when discussing the traffic drop from Google's AI Overviews: more and more people are finding businesses through AI-generated answers, not just classic search results. Having content that's well-structured, current and easy to cite is no longer optional, it's part of our AI search engine optimization service, which we run alongside traditional SEO so your website stays visible on both fronts.