Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek that took the markets by storm has been witnessing a crackdown by several governments, including India, US, Australia with South Korea being the most recent one.
The countries have expressed a growing concern about the chatbot’s security and data practices, especially on government devices.
“We don’t want to expose government systems to these applications,” said Australian government cyber security envoy Andrew Charlton.
India has, however, prohibited the use of all AI tools and applications including ChatGPT and DeepSeek on government office computers and devices.
Here’s a list of all the countries who have banned DeepSeek:
South Korea
The defense ministry announced on Thursday that it had blocked DeepSeek from accessing its internet-connected military computers.
“Blocking measures for DeepSeek have been implemented specifically for military work-related PCs with Internet,” Seoul’s defence ministry told AFP.
This move comes after the country’s personal information protection commission (PIPC) requested the Chinese AI startup to provide clarity on its management of user information.
India
The central government has prohibited its employees from using AI tools and applications such as DeepSeek and ChatGPT on office computers and devices citing “risks for confidentiality of Govt, data and documents”.
“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 Govt, data and documents,” a government memo read.
Australia
In not a “symbolic move”, Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices following advice from security agencies. The decision was driven by concerns over privacy risks and potential malware threats posed by the Chinese AI program.
“This is an action the government has taken on the advice of security agencies. It’s absolutely not a symbolic move,” said cyber security envoy Andrew Charlton.
“After considering threat and risk analysis, I have determined that the use of DeepSeek products, applications and web services poses an unacceptable level of security risk to the Australian Government,” home affairs secretary said in statement.
US
The American navy has restricted the use of DeepSeek “for any work-related tasks or personal use.”
Texas was the first state to ban the Chinese AI app. “Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps,” it said.
Taiwan
Taiwan said that the government employees would be prohibited from using DeepSeek, citing concerns that the tool could expose sensitive data to Beijing.
Taiwan’s ministry of digital affairs (MODA) has officially classified DeepSeek AI as a Chinese information and communications technology (ICT) product, warning that potential data leaks could pose a national security risk.
As a result, MODA banned the use of DeepSeek across central and local government agencies, public schools, state-owned enterprises, and affiliated institutions. The restriction also applies to individuals working on critical infrastructure projects and employees of government-funded foundations.
Italy
It was one the first countries to ban DeepSeek citing risk of data breach for millions of Italians.
“The Authority, considering the potential high risk for the data of millions of people in Italy, has asked the two companies and their affiliates to confirm which personal data are collected, from which sources, for which purposes, what is the legal basis of the processing, and whether they are stored on servers located in China (translated from Italian),” an official press note said.
What China has to say?
China condemned the move, categorically highlighting its opposition to the “politicization of economic, trade, and technological issues.”
It criticised Australia for banning the Chinese AI app DeepSeek from government devices over security concerns.
“The Chinese government… has never and will never require enterprises or individuals to illegally collect or store data,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
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