Personal Information Commission "Temporary Suspension of 'DeepSeek App' Domestic Service"

Service to Resume After Improvements and Supplements Are Made

The domestic service of the Chinese app DeepSeek was temporarily suspended from 6 p.m. on the 15th, the Personal Information Protection Commission (hereinafter referred to as the PIPC) announced on the 17th. The service is expected to resume after improvements and supplements are made in accordance with the domestic Personal Information Protection Act (hereinafter referred to as the Protection Act).

Immediately after the launch of the DeepSeek service, the PIPC sent an official inquiry regarding the methods of personal information collection and processing to DeepSeek headquarters on the 31st of last month and began its own analysis of the service. The PIPC stated, "As a result of our analysis, some deficiencies were confirmed in the communication functions with third parties and in the personal information processing policy, as pointed out by domestic and international media."

DeepSeek told the PIPC, "Following the designation of a domestic agent on the 10th, we acknowledge that consideration of the domestic Protection Act was somewhat insufficient during the global service launch process, and we have expressed our intention to actively cooperate with the PIPC going forward."

The PIPC said, "Considering that it will inevitably take considerable time to rectify the DeepSeek service in accordance with the Protection Act, we recommended that DeepSeek temporarily suspend the service first to prevent further concerns from spreading and then proceed with improvements and supplements." They added, "DeepSeek accepted this recommendation and temporarily suspended the DeepSeek service on domestic app markets from 6 p.m. on the 15th."