South Korea’s national data protection authority has temporarily paused the download of DeepSeek from app stores in the country while it investigates how the Chinese company handles user data.
The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said in a Feb. 17 statement that DeepSeek agreed to suspend new downloads on Feb. 15 and work with the agency to strengthen privacy protections before relaunching.
This suspension restricts new downloads, but existing users can still use DeepSeek services, according to the PIPC. However, the agency advises caution for existing users until the investigation results are released.
The commission intends to “closely inspect the personal information processing status of DeepSeek service during the service suspension period to improve compliance with the protection law and alleviate concerns about personal information protection of our citizens,” the PIPC said.
DeepSeek’s chatbot, which functions similarly to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, launched on Jan. 27, igniting a firestorm of data concerns, with regulators and privacy experts sounding alarms over its potential national security risks.
DeepSeek’s chatbot reportedly has many of the same features as ChatGPT but was developed at a fraction of the cost. Source: Cointelegraph
It also may have had a hand in spooking US stock and crypto markets, which saw a drop on the same day as DeepSeek’s launch.
The PIPC says that after the launch of DeepSeek’s chatbot, it began an analysis and sent an inquiry to the company requesting information about how it collects and processes personal data.
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“As a result of our own analysis, we have identified some shortcomings in communication functions and personal information processing policies with third-party service providers that have been pointed out in domestic and international media outlets,” the PIPC said.
As part of its investigation, the PIPC said it will conduct on-site inspections to confirm compliance with South Korean data protection laws and investigate how DeepSeek stores and processes existing users’ data.
The agency will also suggest improvements so that DeepSeek can meet the requirements of domestic protection laws and issue guidance for other AI firms to prevent similar cases from recurring.
Last year, the PIPC conducted a preliminary on-site inspection of six AI firms in the country, which took about five months.
“This inspection is limited to one operator and is expected to proceed more quickly due to the accumulated experience and know-how,” the agency said.
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