South Korea Halts DeepSeek AI Downloads Over Privacy Concerns

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By 24matins.uk,  published 17 February 2025 at 21h22, updated on 17 February 2025 at 21h23.
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South Korea has temporarily halted downloads of the artificial intelligence DeepSeek due to concerns over user privacy protection.

The Chinese AI giant, DeepSeek, has been removed from app download platforms in South Korea as of February 15. According to a statement from the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), this AI assistant will be unavailable until it adheres to local data protection laws. Users who have already downloaded the app can continue to use it. It is also worth noting that the use of DeepSeek is banned on South Korean government and military devices.

A Recent Presence in South Korea

DeepSeek only established itself in South Korea on February 10. The company admitted that it had not fully considered South Korean data protection laws during the global launch of its service. However, it has expressed a willingness to collaborate with the PIPC to rectify this issue.

The PIPC stated that inspecting DeepSeek would take time. For context, the review of six AI services from Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, and others took about five months. However, the inspection of DeepSeek is expected to be quicker since it involves only this company.

Data Transfer: A Major Concern

In a statement to TechCrunch, the PIPC revealed that DeepSeek was transferring Korean users’ data to ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Local users have been warned not to input personal information into the application. Additionally, other countries like Italy, Australia, and Taiwan have also raised security concerns and have banned the application on government devices.

In response to South Korea’s ban on DeepSeek, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated that Beijing had never asked any company or individual to store or collect data illegally.