DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, has paused downloads of its chatbot apps in South Korea due to privacy worries. This action was taken by the South Korean Personal Information Protection Commission, which led to the removal of DeepSeek’s apps from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
The company has agreed to work with the commission to improve its data protection measures before allowing downloads to resume. Users who already have the app can still use it, but the commission recommends that they delete the app or avoid entering personal information until the privacy issues are resolved.
The pause came after concerns were raised about how DeepSeek handles user data. An investigation found that the company wasn’t clear about sharing data with third parties and might have been collecting too much personal information. While the exact number of users in South Korea isn’t clear, an analysis estimated that there were about 1.2 million users at the end of January, making DeepSeek the second most popular AI chatbot in the country after ChatGPT.
DeepSeek attracted attention last month for announcing that it could develop its chatbot at a much lower cost than US competitors, which stirred up discussions about the competition between the US and China in AI technology. This prompted the South Korean government to act, as many agencies and companies have either blocked access to DeepSeek or banned its use due to data security concerns.
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This suspension in South Korea follows a similar ban in Italy for data protection violations, and other countries, including the US, are considering similar actions, especially for government and military devices. Currently, only new downloads of the app are affected; users can still access the web version.
The ability to resume downloads will depend on DeepSeek addressing these privacy concerns and meeting South Korea’s data protection standards. If it can’t then this may be the end of the AI service.
Source: Matt Binder
Published: Feb 17, 2025 01:00 pm