DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup which offers a relatively lower cost large language model, is being scrutinised by countries across the globe over privacy concerns.
Australia: On February 4, Australia banned DeepSeek from all government devices citing concerns that the Chinese startup poses security risks, Reuters reported. In a statement, the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs instructed all government entities 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.”
Czech Republic: In July 2025, the Czech Republic had also banned the country’s public administration from using any of the services of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek due to data security concerns, it was reported. “The government decided on a ban on usage of AI products, applications, solutions, web pages and web services provided by DeepSeek within the Czech public administration,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said while speaking at a press conference.
Germany: In June 2025, Germany requested Apple and Google to remove the DeepSeek app from their stores because of privacy issues. Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Meike Kamp issued a statement condemning the company’s transfer of user data to China as “unlawful”. According to Kamp, DeepSeek has failed to “convincingly demonstrate to [his] authority that German users’ data in China is protected to a level equivalent to that of the European Union”, adding: “DeepSeek users in China do not have the enforceable rights and effective legal remedies guaranteed in the European Union.”
Netherlands: In February 2025, it was reported that Netherlands has banned civil servants from using DeepSeek for their work. The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) urged citizens to be cautious with the app and use it with restraint, especially if they upload information about others to DeepSeek.
South Korea: It was reported in February that South Korea has banned new downloads of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. The government agency said the AI model will become available again to South Korean users when “improvements and remedies” are made to ensure it complies with the country’s personal data protection laws. The move came after South Korean government agencies banned their employees from downloading the chatbot to their work devices.
Taiwan: Taiwan banned government agencies from using DeepSeek over security risks in February 2025. “Government agencies and critical infrastructure should not use DeepSeek, because it endangers national information security,” according to a statement released by Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs, reported by Radio Free Asia. “DeepSeek AI service is a Chinese product. Its operation involves cross-border transmission, and information leakage and other information security concerns,” the statement added.
India: It was also reported that India’s finance ministry has asked its employees to avoid using AI tools including ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official purposes, citing risks posed to confidentiality of government documents and data, an internal department advisory showed. “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,” said the advisory by the Indian finance ministry dated January 29.
France: In January 2025, a French privacy watchdog CNIL (National Commission on Informatics and Liberty) said that it plans to question DeepSeek to understand how the startup’s AI system functions and if it poses any privacy risks to users. “The CNIL’s AI department is currently analysing this tool,” a spokesperson for the French watchdog said. “In order to better understand how this AI system works and the risks in terms of data protection, the CNIL will question the company that offers the DeepSeek chatbot,” they added.
Italy: In the same month, it was reported that Italy has blocked DeepSeek’s service within the country because of a lack of information on its use of personal data of the users. Garante, which is the Italian regulator for the protection of personal data, enquired from DeepSeek and its affiliated companies what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis and whether it is stored in China or not.
In a statement issued January 30, 2025, the Garante said it arrived at the decision after DeepSeek provided information that it said was “completely insufficient.” The entities behind the service, Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence and Beijing DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, have “declared that they do not operate in Italy and that European legislation does not apply to them,” it added. As a result, the watchdog blocked access to DeepSeek.
The privacy policy of the Chinese app states that the personal information it collects from users is held “on secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China”, adding that it uses data to “comply with our legal obligations, or as necessary to perform tasks in the public interest, or to protect the vital interests of our users and other people”.
United States: It has been reported that the Trump administration is weighing penalties which could block DeepSeek from buying US technology and is debating barring access to the app. Seven Republican US senators in August already asked the Commerce Department to evaluate potential data security vulnerabilities posed by Chinese open-source AI models like DeepSeek.
What is DeepSeek
Marketed as a “free AI chatbot rivalling GPT-4”, the AI tool rapidly caused a stir in the industry, topping app store charts just weeks after its debut with at least 3 million downloads globally. DeepSeek attracted global attention after claiming that training of DeepSeek-V3 required less than $6 million worth of computing power from Nvidia H800 chips.
