Days after its AI models and chatbot app went viral, DeepSeek is coming under scrutiny from regulators across the world.
A few countries have outlawed the government use of the Chinese startup’s AI technology.
The privacy watchdogs of countries such as Ireland, France, Belgium, and Netherlands have raised concerns about the DeepSeek app’s data collection practices.
In the US, several federal agencies have instructed its employees against accessing DeepSeek, and “hundreds of companies” have requested their enterprise cybersecurity firms such as Netskope and Armis to block access to the app, according to a report by Bloomberg.
“We store the information we collect in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China,” the DeepSeek app’s privacy policy reads.
Perhaps the biggest concern over DeepSeek is that user data could be shared with the government in China, which has laws that require companies to share data with local intelligence agencies upon their request.
But these data protection concerns may only exist with the application layer of DeepSeek’s AI, as running some of its AI models locally reportedly ensures that the company does not get its hands on sensitive user data.
As a result, the Indian government plans to host DeepSeek’s AI model on local servers.
“Data privacy issues regarding DeepSeek can be addressed by hosting open source models on Indian servers,” Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw was quoted as saying.
Countries that have banned the use of DeepSeek’s AI
Italy
Last month, Italy became one of the first countries to ban DeepSeek’s AI. The AI chatbot app, powered by its foundational AI models V3 and R1, has reportedly disappeared from app stores in the country.
This came days after the country’s privacy watchdog sought information on how the Chinese AI startup handles user data.
It had given DeepSeek 20 days to reply to the notice. The Italian Data Protection Agency (DPA) was reportedly acting based on a complaint filed by consumer coalition group, Euroconsumers.
Taiwan
Stating that DeepSeek “endangers national information security”, Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs has banned government agencies from using the company’s AI. Public sector workers and critical infrastructure facilities run the risk of cross-border transmission and information leakage by using DeepSeek’s technology, according to TechCrunch. The ban also reportedly covers public schools and state-owned enterprises in Taiwan
Australia
Government workers in Australia have been prohibited from installing and using DeepSeek’a AI app over security concerns. All government entities have been mandatorily directed by the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs to
“prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services and where found remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services from all Australian Government systems and devices.”
The ban is not applicable to the country’s private citizens, as per Reuters.
Government agencies that have banned the use of DeepSeek’s AI
Union Finance Ministry
The Union Ministry of Finance has cautioned members of its staff against using AI tools such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek, citing data protection risks posed to confidential government information.
“It has been determined that AI tools and AI apps (such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek etc.) in the office computers and devices pose risks for confidentiality of (government) data and documents,” read an internal advisory issued by the ministry on January 29, as per Reuters.
US Congress
Members of the US Congress have been cautioned against using DeepSeek tech.
“Threat actors are already exploiting DeepSeek to deliver malicious software and infect devices […] To mitigate these risks, the House has taken security measures to restrict DeepSeek’s functionality on all House-issued devices,” read a notice by the chief administrative officer of the US House of Representatives.
Additionally, the congressional staff has been prohibited from installing DeepSeek apps on their official devices.
US Navy
The US Navy has directed its members not to use DeepSeek’s apps or AI technology “in any capacity” due to “potential security and ethical concerns associated with the origins and usage,” according to a report by CNBC.
It is imperative that members don’t use DeepSeek’s AI for any work-related tasks or personal use, and refrain from downloading, installing, or using DeepSeek AI, the US Navy said in an internal email.
Pentagon
Access to DeepSeek technologies has been blocked in the Pentagon, which is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense (DoD), since January, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The restrictions were reportedly put in place after defense officials raised concerns over Pentagon workers using DeepSeek’s app without authorisation. However, the personnel of the defence department can access DeepSeek’s AI through an authorised platform called Ask Sage that does not store data in China-based servers.
NASA
“DeepSeek and its products and services are not authorized for use with NASA’s data and information or on government-issued devices and networks. [Employees are not authorized to] access DeepSeek via NASA devices and agency-managed network connections,” read an internal memo by the US space agency, as per CNBC.
Texas: Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an order to ban AI software developed by DeepSeek and other Chinese companies from government-issued devices in the state.
“[Texas] will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps. Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors,” Abbott said.
Why banning DeepSeek is harder than it looks
If users are concerned about the privacy risks associated with DeepSeek’s AI chatbot app, they can download and run DeepSeek’s open-source AI model locally on their computer to keep their interactions private.
If they lack the hardware and compute power necessary to do this, they can access DeepSeek’s AI chatbot through platforms such as Perplexity, which reportedly stores the user data in servers located in the US and Europe.
As for the worry by US companies and authorities that DeepSeek’s latest AI model was allegedly developed by piggybacking off the advances of rivals like ChatGPT, stopping the startup from doing this could be difficult because it is hard to detect small amounts of traffic towards popular products such as ChatGPT, which has millions of users, according to a report by Reuters.
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