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South Korea stops DeepSeek AI App Download amid Data Privacy Concerns

Cyber Security

Business Honor
18 Febuary, 2025

DeepSeek’s data practices face scrutiny as South Korea halts the app until review.

The Chinese artificial Intelligence firm DeepSeek developed the chatbot DeepSeek. Benchmark tests Conducted by U.S. AI businesses, have shown that DeepSeek can build computer programs, solve logic puzzles, and respond to questions on same level with other chatbots.

Many researchers worry that the Chinese government may utilize the AI system for surveillance and disinformation campaigns, foreign influence operations, and the creation of cyber weapons. According to a wired article, the DeepSeek internet service may potentially create "the stage for greater scrutiny" by transmitting data to its home country.

Seoul authorities announced on Monday (February 17) that the Chinese AI app DeepSeek will not be accessible for download in South Korea until its user data handling practices are reviewed. Some nations have raised concerns about DeepSeek's handling of customer data, which the company claims is gathered on "secure servers located in the People's Republic of China."

The Chinese AI business "acknowledged that considerations for domestic privacy laws were somewhat lacking," according to the data protection regulators. The regulator also noted that it "would inevitably take a significant amount of time" to bring the app into compliance with local privacy rules.

According to the PIPC, the Chinese startup admitted to partially ignoring South Korea's data protection regulations when it hired legal counsel there last week. The Garante, Italy's data protection body, announced last month that it had ordered DeepSeek to shut down its chatbot in the nation after the company failed to answer the regulator's inquiries on its privacy policy.

When questioned about previous actions taken by South Korean government agencies to ban DeepSeek, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told a briefing on February 6 that the Chinese government placed a high priority on data privacy and security and protected it in compliance with the law.

The commission suggested that DeepSeek temporarily halt operations while implementing the required modifications to try to prevent more concerns from growing.