Italian flag in front of government building
Italy blocks access to DeepSeek due to data security concerns
Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek has come under fire in Italy as the authorities blocked access to it and and launched an investigation into its operations.
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According to a press release on 30 January, the Guarantor for the protection of personal data has urgently ordered the ban with immediate effect.
The ban limits access to processing of Italians’ data by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence and Beijing DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, the Chinese companies that provide the DeepSeek chatbot service.
Concerns on data security
Central to the ban on DeepSeek is the concern for the data security of Italian users of the chatbot.
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According to the press release, the authorities have been in touch with the two companies providing DeepSeek services, but were not satisfied with the feedback they got.
“The limitation measure – adopted to protect the data of Italian users – follows the communication from the companies received today, the content of which was deemed completely insufficient. Contrary to what the Authority found, the companies declared that they do not operate in Italy and that European legislation does not apply to them.”
Consequently, the agency is also launching an investigation into the companies, probably to further understand how they process users’ data.
DeepSeek was launched roughly three weeks ago, but took the AI space by storm almost immediately.
Although many questions have arisen around it, the chatbot remains one of the most popular in the world currently.
Its access was only restricted to mainland China for new signups following a massive cyber attack, but those who registered early still maintain access in any country.
The beginning of the end for DeepSeek
The ban by Italy is the first so far on DeepSeek by any country. However, it could just be the first and not the last.
More countries may follow suit as skepticism around Chinese apps continues to grow, with suspicion of data stealing and sharing with the Chinese government.
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