Line Yahoo Prohibits Use of Deepseek for Work Purposes
Kakao Also Asks Employees to Refrain from Using It... Concerns Over Information Security
Domestic and international major information technology (IT) companies such as Naver, Kakao, and Line Yahoo have banned the use of the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) Deepseek. Since Deepseek extensively collects information and stores it on servers within China, this measure is interpreted as a precaution against the leakage of important information.
According to the IT industry on the 5th, it has been confirmed that Naver, Kakao, and Line Yahoo recently informed their employees that the use of Deepseek for work purposes is prohibited.
Line Yahoo recently issued a notice to its headquarters and major affiliates such as Line Plus, IPX, and Line Games, prohibiting the use of Deepseek for work purposes. Line Yahoo is a company established by the merger of 'Line' and 'Yahoo Japan' under Japan's Z Holdings, a joint venture between Naver and SoftBank in 2023, and operates the mobile messenger LINE.
Kakao also recently informed its employees through an internal notice to refrain from using Deepseek for internal work purposes. A Kakao official explained, "According to Kakao's internal AI utilization policy, it was judged that there are concerns because complete verification regarding information security, ethics, and AI safety has not been conducted."
Naver also does not allow the use of Deepseek for work purposes according to its internal guidelines. A Naver official explained, "At the time when the use of ChatGPT was increasing, we guided employees on work utilization guidelines focusing on conversational AI services," adding, "According to the guidelines, AI services or clouds that store data externally cannot be used for work purposes, and Deepseek is no exception."
This movement to ban the use of Deepseek in the IT industry is expected to gradually expand. Concerns about personal information leakage and security are growing around Deepseek. According to Deepseek's privacy policy, it collects a wide range of information including users' basic personal information such as names, dates of birth, emails, and phone numbers, as well as texts, images, and audio files entered by users. The collected information is stored on servers within China. Deepseek explains that the collected information is for service provision, but given China's characteristics where personal information issues are a persistent concern, it is difficult to dispel worries about information leakage.
Industry insiders have also expressed concerns about personal information leakage regarding Deepseek. Ha Jung-woo, head of Naver Future AI Center, pointed out on his social media, "The information collected is very extensive, including device information, keyboard input patterns, IP information, device IDs, and cookies," adding, "Naturally, the collected user information is stored on Deepseek's secure servers in China."
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