Several Governments Ban DeepSeek For Security Concerns

Key Takeaways

• Italy, Thailand, Taiwan, and US states like Texas have banned DeepSeek due to security concerns, mainly because of its Chinese origin and potential data-sharing obligations with the Chinese government.
• The app's popularity was overshadowed by exposed security vulnerabilities, including massive data leaks and an uncooperative stance from the company regarding privacy concerns, which worsened its case.
• With ongoing investigations and a lack of transparency, DeepSeek may face more bans and legal actions unless it addresses the privacy and security issues raised by governments and security analysts.

Several countries, including Italy, Thailand, and Taiwan have banned the newest AI sensation in their countries. A few states of the US, including Texas, have also prohibited DeepSeek.

Why, you ask? Because it's a Chinese app. It's simple reasoning: Chinese apps are owned by the Chinese government, and if the Chinese government mandates DeepSeek to share any data with Chinese intelligence agencies, it has no other option but to agree.

This is almost exactly why TikTok fell out of favor with the United States in the first place. It needed a newly elected President to save TikTok, but it doesn't look like DeepSeek is going to be saved, especially given how it's actually threatening the entire US AI industry.

This has raised strong concerns about cross-border information transmission and data leaks through DeepSeek. When asked to speak on the matter, the company maintained silence, which worsened its case and led to a complete ban.

The R1 model of the AI quickly became popular after its launch and took ChatGPT's throne to become the most downloaded free AI app on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. The app is also made at a considerably lower cost, raising eyebrows on the several millions spent on US AI infrastructure.

While DeepSeek matches the AI benchmarks of its competitors like ChatGPT and Gemini, when the accusations were placed, the initial enthusiasm quickly wore off. Security analysts found massive holes in DeepSeek's security with exposed databases revealing chat prompts and internal data.

Which Countries Have Banned DeepSeek?

Italy has completely outlawed DeepSeek, while Taiwan has prohibited its use by government agencies, public sector workers, and any provider of critical infrastructure.

Before banning, the Italian government posed a few questions related to the use of personal data.

While there wasn't any official statement from DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, there are reports that the company disagreed to cooperate with the requests and was eventually blocked. Not a good look, honestly!

Not only did DeepSeek's response not give us any reassurance, it worsened their position, and that's the reason we decided to order the block. - Agostino Ghiglia, a member of the Italian data authority's board

The UK, on the other hand, issued just a warning to the citizens about the concerns and currently doesn't seem to have any plans to ban DeepSeek.

While the US government is still investigating the security implications and taking its time to take a final call, Texas becomes the first state in the country to issue a ban on the app.

NASA, too, has enforced a ban saying the app won't be authorized for use with NASA's data and information or on government-issued devices and networks.

The current situation doesn't look all that great for DeepSeek, and we can only expect more lawsuits and bans to follow if the company doesn't speak up about its privacy laws or find a way to address these security concerns because too much damage is done.

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