Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 10, 2026
2 min readLast updated: April 10, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleOpenAI’s ChatGPT is expected to be designated a “very large online search engine” under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), triggering stricter regulatory obligations once the European Commission confirms its user figures—potentially exceeding 45 million EU users.
April 10 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Friday said it was analysing whether OpenAI's ChatGPT platform should be considered a large online platform under the rules of the Digital Services Act (DSA), after it reported user numbers above the threshold.
"OpenAI has published user numbers for ChatGPT above the 45 million DSA threshold for designation," Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said.
"The Commission services are currently assessing this information."
Regnier said Large Language Models could potentially be in the scope of the DSA, but that this had to be analysed on a "case-by-case basis."
German newspaper Handelsblatt reported earlier on Friday that ChatGPT would fall under the DSA, meaning it would face tighter regulation.
OpenAI said it had published the average number of monthly active recipients for ChatGPT search in line with existing obligations, adding this referred to users in the European Union over the past six months.
According to data supplied by OpenAI, ChatGPT search had approximately 120.4 million average monthly active users in the EU over the six-month period to end-September 2025.
(Writing by Matthias Williams and Bart Meijer, Editing by Linda Pasquini, Kirsten Donovan)
OpenAI is set to be classified under the EU's Digital Services Act, which imposes stricter regulations on large online platforms.
The Digital Services Act would require OpenAI to comply with enhanced restrictions and guidelines for large search engines operating in the EU.
OpenAI declined to comment when contacted by Handelsblatt about its potential classification under the DSA.
Yes, a spokesperson for the EU Commission stated that user data for OpenAI is currently being reviewed.
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