Data protection concerns

South Korea bans Chinese AI DeepSeek

The Chinese government's possible access to DeepSeek user data is of particular concern to the authorities.

(Bild: AP/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korea has temporarily banned the Chinese AI DeepSeek. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) based its decision on data protection concerns.

The app's service will only be resumed once improvements have been made in accordance with South Korean data protection laws. According to the PIPC, DeepSeek is currently working actively with the data protection authority.

Authorities and cyber security experts in Germany have also reported serious security concerns with regard to the Chinese AI DeepSeek. This concerns several points: the obviously very extensive storage of user data, the potential manipulability of the application for criminal purposes and the extent to which the Chinese espionage and surveillance apparatus has access to user data.

Several countries took action against companies
Previously, authorities in Italy, Taiwan and Australia had already taken action against DeepSeek. The Italian data protection authority launched an investigation into whether the app violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As DeepSeek's responses were deemed inadequate, the app was removed from the app stores.

Taiwan and Australia have banned the use of DeepSeek for government agencies and state institutions. The bans were based on the risk of information leaks and a potential threat to national information security due to cross-border data transfer.

US authorities prohibited use
There is no nationwide ban in the US, but several federal agencies such as NASA and the Department of Defense have banned their employees from using the app. Some states, such as Texas, have banned DeepSeek on state-owned devices. There are also legislative proposals to ban the DeepSeek app completely.

The chatbot from China, which is based on open-source language models, has shaken up the AI industry in recent weeks, as the app achieves comparable or even better results than established providers such as OpenAI, Google or Meta. At the same time, according to DeepSeek, the development of the program only cost a fraction of what OpenAI invested in ChatGPT, for example. At the end of January, DeepSeek was the top free application in the iPhone app store in the USA. The app is currently in 14th place in the ranking.

The reservations against DeepSeek are based on the fact that the app stores user data on servers in China. Due to Chinese laws, this data could be passed on to government agencies on request, which violates data protection laws such as the GDPR in Europe. However, security researchers have also identified weaknesses such as inadequate encryption and other security vulnerabilities that could put sensitive data at risk. The app can also be easily manipulated to produce content that is potentially dangerous, such as instructions on how to build a bomb.

China's government criticizes "politicization"
China's foreign ministry commented on the current actions of the authorities in South Korea, stating that the government always instructs Chinese companies to strictly adhere to local laws when abroad. Official spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in Beijing that China also hopes that the countries will avoid "politicizing economic, trade and technological issues".