South Korea has banned new downloads of Chinese startup DeepSeek’s AI chatbot. This measure has been taken because of privacy concerns, South Korean authorities claimed, despite DeepSeek’s immense popularity in the country.
South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said the DeepSeek app became unavailable on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store on the evening of Feb. 15.
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Previously, several South Korean government agencies also banned their employees from downloading the chatbot to their work devices. South Korea’s acting president Choi Sang-Mok has described DeepSeek as a “shock” that could impact the country’s industries beyond AI.
However, people who have already downloaded the app on their devices can continue to do so, and it can also be accessed from the website. “To prevent further concerns from spreading, the commission recommended that DeepSeek temporarily suspend its service while making the necessary improvements,” the PIPC said, adding that bringing the app in line with local regulations would “inevitably take a significant amount of time.”
The Chinese startup had made great waves around the world following its release of an AI model far more efficient than leading models like ChatGPT and Gemini. Deepseek’s achievement had truly disrupted the tech world, causing people to question the billions of dollars poured into AI. While there has been a lot of praise for the Chinese company, there has also been criticism and concerns.
READ: Apple CEO comes out in support and praise for DeepSeek (January 31, 2025)
Aside from South Korea, Taiwan and Australia have also banned it from all government devices. The Australian government has said that the ban is not due to the app’s Chinese origins, but because of the “unacceptable risk” they believe it poses to national security. Italy’s regulator, which briefly banned ChatGPT in 2023, has done the same with DeepSeek.
DeepSeek has also been banned in the state of Texas, and restrictions have been introduced for government employees in Virginia and New York.