South Korea has officially stopped any new downloads of the country’s version of DeepSeek from using Chinese artificial intelligence ( AI ) until the service makes changes to its mobile apps in order to comply with data protection laws.
Downloads have been paused as of February 15, 2025, 6: 00 p. m. local time, the Personal Information Protection Commission ( PIPC ) in a statement. The internet service remains available.
The organization claimed that it had just begun its own DeepSeek research and that it had “reported some shortcomings in interaction processes and specific info processing policies with third-party service providers.”
According to PIPC, DeepSeek is alleged to have just appointed a local representative, and the business also acknowledged that when it launched the service, it had failed to take domestic privacy laws into account.
In order to comply with the Personal Information Protection Act, DeepSeek downloads will be halted until the business makes the necessary adjustments.
The agency noted that” this temporary suspension of the DeepSeek app restricts new app downloads from the app market, and we ask existing users to use it cautiously, such as not entering personal information into the DeepSeek input window ( prompt ) until the final results are announced.”
In addition, PIPC intends to confirm compliance and strengthen guidance to stop related errors from occurring in the future.
The development comes shortly after the National Intelligence Service ( NIS ) of South Korea criticized the organization for “excessively” collecting personal data and using the information to train its AI systems.
In recent days, it has been discovered that DeepSeek’s Android and iOS apps have security flaws that allow some information to be sent to its servers in unsecured style.
Beijing has stated before that it would never ask any company or individual to gather or store data in violation of laws and that it allows online companies from other countries to do so. Beijing has recently stated that it would do so.