Personal Information at Risk of Being Leaked to China... 'This Country' Blocks New Downloads of 'DeepSeek'

Italy Blocks App Downloads on Google and Apple App Stores
Data Protection Authority Sends Inquiry to DeeSeek

Italy recently blocked new downloads of the application (app) launched by Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeeSeek, foreign media including ANSA reported on the 29th (local time).

On that day, when attempting to download the DeeSeek app through the Apple App Store in Italy, a notification window appears stating, "This app is currently not available in your country or region." On the Google Play Store, a message appears saying, "Downloads are not supported in Italy." However, it is known that Italian users who have already downloaded the DeeSeek app can still use the service normally. DeeSeek downloads and service usage are still available in other European Union (EU) countries and the United Kingdom.

Italy blocked new downloads of the Chinese AI app DeepSeek on the 29th (local time). Photo by Reuters, Yonhap News

The DeeSeek block occurred just hours after the Italian data protection authority, Garante, sent an inquiry to DeeSeek regarding its user data processing methods. Garante is concerned that Italian users' personal information is stored on servers located in China. Accordingly, they requested information from DeeSeek on ▲the personal data collected ▲its source ▲purpose ▲legal basis ▲whether it is stored on Chinese servers, and DeeSeek must respond within 20 days.

Earlier, in March 2023, Garante became the first Western country to block access to ChatGPT within its territory, stating that OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, had no legal basis for the mass collection and use of personal data for training its AI models. Subsequently, last month, Garante imposed a fine of 15 million euros (approximately 22.5 billion KRW) on OpenAI after concluding an investigation into its use of personal data.

Meanwhile, DeeSeek's AI app has been evaluated as comparable in performance to AI apps from American companies such as OpenAI and Google, and just one week after its release, on the 27th, it surprised the world by topping the download rankings on the US App Store, surpassing ChatGPT. This led to growing concerns that US tech companies' stock prices were overvalued, triggering a sharp decline in US tech stocks as a ripple effect.