The European Union is placing much tighter rules on some of the biggest platforms on the internet right now. The European Commission has officially labeled ChatGPT as a very large online search engine, while giving Reddit and Roblox the title of very large online platforms. This change means each service will now have to follow the strictest level of regulations under the Digital Services Act.
Millions of monthly users trigger tough digital safety laws
Because each platform crossed the threshold of 45 million average monthly users in the European Union, the government is stepping in to apply closer supervision. With so many people logging on daily, lawmakers want to make sure every platform handles illegal content safely. The government also wants to prevent negative effects on younger users and protect local elections from bad information.
OpenAI, the maker of the popular chatbot, along with Reddit and Roblox, has four months to ensure it meets these new requirements. The European Commission stated that a platform of this size must be held to a higher standard of accountability because of the massive impact it has on society.
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The platforms must share internal data and pass regular audits
Under these strict rules, the platforms will face much tighter monitoring. For example, a service dealing with artificial intelligence or complex algorithms at this scale must share internal data with European authorities when asked. The new label also requires a company to undergo annual reviews by independent auditors. In certain situations, outside researchers will even gain access to a platform’s data.
With this recent update, the European Commission now lists 28 different services under these heavy regulations. Earlier this year, the commission placed WhatsApp under the same strict umbrella that Facebook and Instagram already follow. Moving forward, a company developing AI or running massive virtual communities must prove it can grow fast while still keeping its users safe from harm.
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