Downloads of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI assistant, have been paused in South Korea due to privacy concerns. The country’s data protection authority, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), announced the suspension effective February 15.
The PIPC indicated that downloads will only resume once DeepSeek complies with local data protection laws. Users who already have the app installed can continue to use it, but the application is blocked on government and military devices.
DeepSeek established a local presence in South Korea on February 10, but it reportedly did not fully consider the nation’s data protection regulations during its global launch. The company has expressed willingness to cooperate with the PIPC to resolve the issues.
Inspections of AI services can be time-consuming, as seen with six other companies, including Google and OpenAI, which took about five months. However, the PIPC anticipates a shorter duration for the inspection of DeepSeek.
Concerns arose after the PIPC discovered that DeepSeek was transferring data from Korean users to ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Local users have been warned against entering personal information into the app.
Other countries, including Australia and Taiwan, have also banned DeepSeek on government devices due to similar security issues. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has responded to the ban, asserting that Beijing does not compel companies to store or collect data illegally.
For more details, visit Engadget.