Chinese AI Firm DeepSeek Paused in South Korea over Privacy Concerns

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, halted new downloads of its chatbot apps in South Korea temporarily. The move came after the South Korean government complained about privacy issues. South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission said the apps were removed from the local Apple App Store and Google Play on Saturday. The company has pledged to work with the authorities to improve privacy protections before the apps are back on sale.

Current users of the app can keep using it, but citizens are being requested by the government to uninstall it or avoid filling in personal information until the issue is fixed. DeepSeek had gained international acclaim for creating a chatbot at much lower cost than US firms. Concerns over data privacy have led the majority of South Korean government agencies and corporations to block the app.

The investigation by the South Korean commission found that DeepSeek was possibly collecting too much personal data and not being clear about sharing data with third parties. The app was gaining traction, with about 1.2 million South Korean users, and was the second-most-utilized AI model in South Korea after ChatGPT.