DeepSeek has remained silent despite allegations of violating users’ privacy by sharing their information with TikTok parent company ByteDance.
News of the chatbot’s ban in South Korea emerged on 17 February after the country’s Personal Information Protection Commission confirmed that DeepSeek transferred user data to ByteDance.
Since then, the company has not issued any statement either confirming or denying the allegations, which is strange.
China’s defense raises questions
It has long been held that social media platforms and especially artificial intelligence platforms of Chinese origin are loyal to the Chinese Communist Party.
It was on this grounds that TikTok got suspended in the U.S. by the Biden administration. DeepSeek which came on the scene not too long ago has also been a focus of suspicion.
The chatbot has been banned on different scales in different countries, but none had such a specific allegation as South Korea.
Despite the gravity of the allegations, DeepSeek has remained silent on the issue in a rather nonchalant way. Instead, it is the Chinese government that has put up a defense.
On Monday, it was widely reported that the Chinese government asked South Korea to reconsider the ban and not politicize the incident.
This raises questions such as why the Chinese government is defending the AI company when the owners don’t seem to care.
Are the allegations true?
TikTok was accused of sharing data with the CCP, which eventually led to its ban in the U.S. However, the social media platform did not have the kind of backing that DeepSeek has.
Shortly after the launch of the chatbot, a proponent who is also the Vice President of the Center for China and Globalization defended the company, saying the U.S. is trying to suppress it.
With such trend, it is likely that suspicion around Chinese software of any kind will intensify in more countries.
What do you think?
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