Report from EuroNews
In Brief – The European Commission has announced that ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox are Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the Digital Services Act (DSA), subjecting all three to the EU’s strictest online safety rules. ChatGPT is the first stand-alone AI service brought under the DSA regime. The Commission concluded that an AI chatbot that retrieves live internet results functions is a search engine for regulatory purposes and called ChatGPT a “hybrid service” that must comport with the Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) rules. Reddit and Roblox qualify as standard VLOPs. The VLOP and VLOSE designations apply to services reaching more than 45 million monthly users in the EU. OpenAI reported 159 million monthly ChatGPT search users, while Reddit reported 57.2 million and Roblox about 48 million. The companies will now face oversight directly by the European Commission, have four months to conduct systemic risk assessments, will undergo independent audits and be required to share data with regulators and researchers.
Context – The DSA regulates how digital platforms address a wide variety of objectionable content, including hate speech, disinformation, and threats to children, along with illegal, dangerous and fraudulent products and services. There are now 28 VLOPs, with Google Search, Microsoft Bing and OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the three covered search engines. VLOPs facing DSA investigations by the Commission include social media platforms X, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, marketplaces Shein and Temu, four adult platforms accused of not adequately protecting minors, and Apple, Google, Booking and Microsoft in an investigation of their efforts to block frauds and scams. Speech moderation on social media, which often involves politically contentious and sensitive topics, remains a top concern of the Trump Administration and other conservatives who allege censorship pressure from European government establishments. The Commission’s eventual decision in their investigation of X’s content moderation and algorithmic recommendation practices will likely be another point of US-EU friction.