Digital services including ChatGBT, Reddit and Roblox have entered a new phase of European oversight, after the European Commission announced on Monday that they have been officially classified as very large digital services under the European Digital Services Act.
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The decision means subjecting these services to an additional set of requirements designed to deal with the risks that may arise from widespread platforms and their impact on users and society.
45 million user threshold
The ranking came after the three services announced they had reached at least 45 million monthly active users within the European Union , the threshold adopted by the Digital Services Act to define very large platforms and search engines, equivalent to about 10% of the EU population, which makes services that exceed it subject to additional obligations compared to smaller digital services.
The Commission classified ChatGBT as a very large electronic search engine, and Reddit and Roblox as two very large electronic platforms. The difference in classification reflects the nature of each service and the function it performs within the digital system.
What will change?
The classification does not mean banning or directly restricting the use of these platforms' services, but it does impose a higher level of responsibility and oversight. According to the European Commission, services classified as "very large" platforms and search engines must assess the systemic risks associated with their services and algorithms, and then take measures to mitigate them.
These risks include the spread of illegal content, negative impacts on minors, users' physical and psychological well-being, fundamental rights, electoral processes, and public safety. These requirements are becoming particularly important with the increasing use of artificial intelligence services , social media platforms, and digital games.
The Digital Services Act imposes transparency obligations on large platforms , including recommendation mechanisms, content, advertising, and content moderation decisions. It also requires them to provide points of contact for authorities and users, report certain crimes, and adopt clear and easy-to-understand terms of use.
The law also gives users additional rights in the digital environment, including the ability to choose non-personalized feeds on large platforms, along with stricter rules on advertising and a ban on certain misleading design techniques that push users to make decisions they would not have necessarily chosen.
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