Observed Signal · Sep 17, 2026 · Regulation · Source: persoenlich.com News · Impact: 5/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Regulation Market: EU Classifies ChatGPT as Very Large Online Search Engine
The EU Commission has classified ChatGPT as a very large online search engine under the Digital Services Act, prompting Swiss media association VSM to call for copyright reform. VSM argues that AI chatbots increasingly provide generated answers instead of links to journalistic sources, with over 99% of users not clicking through to sources, thereby depriving publishers of traffic and ad revenue. VSM demands a technology-neutral copyright law that obliges AI providers to compensate journalistic work. The German media authority ZAK has also ruled that media law applies to AI search services, with decisions against Google and Perplexity. The Swiss parliament has referred a related proposal back to the Federal Council to examine AI's impact on search engines and platforms.
Major regulatory development: EU classifies ChatGPT as a very large online search engine, impacting AI platforms and publisher compensation, with high relevance to AdTech and media monetization.
Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- The EU Commission classified ChatGPT as a very large online search engine under the Digital Services Act in late August.
- The Swiss media association VSM sees this as confirmation that the line between search engines and AI services is disappearing.
- VSM claims that over 99% of users do not click through to sources when using AI chatbots, compared to over 60% for traditional search engines.
- The German media authority ZAK ruled that media law applies to AI search services, with decisions against Google and Perplexity in July.
- The Swiss parliament has referred a proposal (Motion Gössi) back to the Federal Council to examine AI's impact on search engines and platforms.
Connected Companies & Entities
3 Entities mappedPerplexity
AI answer engine with subscriptions, enterprise plans, and developer API.
“The German media authority ZAK issued decisions against Perplexity regarding media law for AI search services....”
OpenAI
Foundation model company selling AI software, APIs and subscriptions.
“The company behind ChatGPT, which has been classified as a very large online search engine by the EU....”
Search, video, adtech and cloud giant within Alphabet.
“The German media authority ZAK issued decisions against Google and Perplexity regarding media law for AI search services....”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
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