The European Commission is checking whether ChatGPT should be treated as a large online platform under the Digital Services Act after OpenAI said the service has crossed the user threshold that can trigger extra obligations. If Brussels decides yes, the chatbot would move from being just another fast-growing AI product to a regulated platform with more scrutiny attached to its scale.
Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said OpenAI had published user numbers for ChatGPT above the 45 million Digital Services Act threshold for designation. That does not mean a decision has been made, but it does show the EU turning a growth metric into a compliance problem for ChatGPT.
What the DSA threshold changes for ChatGPT
Under the DSA, platforms that clear the 45 million-user mark can face tougher obligations because Brussels sees them as capable of shaping information at scale. For OpenAI, that would be an awkward promotion: more reach, more rules, less freedom to treat ChatGPT like a shiny beta forever.
- Threshold in question: 45 million users
- Service under review: ChatGPT
- Regulator: European Commission
Why Brussels is looking now
The timing is not subtle. European regulators have spent the past few years widening their focus from social networks to any platform that can funnel huge volumes of content or interaction. AI chatbots sit awkwardly in that space, because they are not classic publishers, but they can still steer what millions of people read, write, and believe.
That is the real pressure point for OpenAI and its rivals. If ChatGPT is designated under the DSA, the company would join the same broad regulatory conversation that has already dogged the biggest internet platforms, even though the product works very differently from a feed or a search engine.
OpenAI is not the only company watching
Competitors are paying attention because any formal EU move here could become a template. If Brussels decides usage alone is enough to pull a chatbot into the DSA net, other AI assistants will be next in line for the same question, and no one building a consumer AI product wants that conversation to start with lawyers in the room.
The Commission’s review is still exactly that: a review. But the direction of travel is obvious enough. As AI products move from novelty to mass-market utility, regulators are trying to decide whether the old platform rules can be stretched to fit them, or whether the next fight will be over a new rulebook entirely.