The Australian government has imposed an immediate ban on the use of DeepSeek across all government devices, citing national security risks. Officials stated that the restriction is necessary to safeguard the country’s national interests. However, the ban does not extend to private citizens, who remain free to use the AI chatbot developed in China. Australia now joins a growing list of countries expressing concerns over DeepSeek’s data privacy and security practices.
Italy’s privacy regulator recently blocked the AI service after its Chinese developers failed to address concerns about their data policies. Taiwan has also issued warnings about potential cross-border data leaks, while regulators in South Korea, Ireland, and France have launched investigations into the chatbot’s data-handling practices.
DeepSeek gained global attention for its open-source AI platform, which demonstrated advanced human-like reasoning. In January, it became the most downloaded free app on the Apple Store, surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
