Italian Regulator Blocks DeepSeek Over Personal Data Concerns

The DeepSeek app on an iPhone screen in San Anselmo, Calif., on Jan. 27, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Italian data protection watchdog has blocked access to the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) application DeepSeek due to concerns over its handling of user data.

The independent regulator, Garante Privacy, said on Jan. 28 that it had asked DeepSeek about the personal data it collects, the sources of that data, and the purposes for which the data is collected.

It also asked DeepSeek about the legal basis for data processing and whether the data is stored on servers located in China. DeepSeek and its affiliated companies were given 20 days to respond to the inquiry.

The regulator said the response it received was insufficient.

“Contrary to the authority’s findings, the companies declared that they do not operate in Italy, and that European legislation does not apply to them,’’ the regulator said in Jan. 30 statement.

The regulator said that DeepSeek’s claims contradict its findings and has launched an investigation into the chatbot service.

The AI application was unavailable on Apple and Google app stores in Italy following the request for information.

The Epoch Times has reached out to DeepSeek for comment but did not hear back by publication time.

The Hangzhou-based startup, founded by entrepreneur Liang Wenfeng in 2023, launched its open-source language learning model, DeepSeek-R1, last week, claiming it is on par with OpenAI’s reasoning model, O1.

DeepSeek’s privacy policy webpage states that the app collects profile information provided by users when setting up their account, the content and chat history generated while using the app, and details shared when users submit feedback or inquiries about the app.

Data collected will be stored “in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China” in accordance with “the requirements of applicable data protection laws,” the webpage stated.

DeepSeek states that it uses data to “comply with our legal obligations, or as necessary to perform tasks in the public interest, or to protect the vital interests of our users and other people.”

The privacy policy page also states that user information may be disclosed to third parties if it believes in “good faith” that such disclosure is necessary “to comply with applicable law, legal process or government requests, as consistent with internationally recognised standards.”

Regulators from Ireland and South Korea have also sought information from DeepSeek over its handling of personal data.

In the United States, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Jan. 28 that the government is looking into the potential national security implications of the app.

“The president said that he believes that this is a wake-up call to the American AI industry.  The last administration sat on their hands and allowed China to rapidly develop this AI program,” Leavitt said.

Concerns have also been raised about censorship. DeepSeek shows heavy bias in favor of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and provides responses to sensitive topics, such as human rights violations, that are reminiscent of the CCP’s state-controlled media reports.

During an interview for the morning show Sunrise on Jan. 29, Australian Housing Minister Clare O'Neil warned users to be cautious when sharing their information on the app and said that authorities are investigating it.

“We would just urge Australians to exercise real caution about the personal information that they’re giving away. It’s fine to talk to the app, but perhaps don’t give it personal information that you don’t want the rest of the world to know about you,” O’Neil said. “So what our national security agencies will be doing at the moment is having a look at the settings of the app and understanding more about how it works before it issues some formal guidance to Australians about care that they need to take.”

DeepSeek AI chatbot was the most downloaded free app on Apple’s app store in the United States last week. Nvidia’s share price dropped about 17 percent on Jan. 27, after DeepSeek announced that its AI models were developed at a fraction of the cost of its rivals, using NVIDIA’s less-advanced H800 chips.

DeepSeek said on Jan. 27 that it would temporarily limit user registrations due to “large-scale malicious attacks” targeting its services. The app reported a major outage affecting its application programming interface (API) and user logins.