DeepSeek AI can't be downloaded in South Korea due to privacy violations
The massively popular Chinese AI assistant DeepSeek has been temporarily unavailable for download in South Korea since February 15.
Here's What We Know
A press release from the local Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) states that downloads will resume after the Chinese company DeepSeek meets the requirements of local data protection laws, while users who have already installed the app will be able to continue using it. The app is also blocked on government and military devices in the country.
DeepSeek officially launched its operations in South Korea only on 10 February. The company admitted that it did not fully consider local data protection laws when launching the service globally. However, there is good news for South Korean users as the Chinese AI giant is ready to cooperate with PIPC.
According to the PIPC, it may take some time to verify DeepSeek. For comparison, it took about five months to check six AI services from Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, and others. Since only DeepSeek is being audited, this process should take less time.
The PIPC also reported that it had detected the transfer of South Korean users' data to ByteDance, TikTok's parent company. Users were warned about the danger of entering personal information into the application.
Last month, the Italian data protection authority Garante sent a request to DeepSeek regarding the type of data the models were trained on, as well as other questions. Other countries, such as Australia and Taiwan, have also banned the app on government devices due to security concerns.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded to the DeepSeek ban in South Korea by assuring that the Chinese authorities would never require any company or individual to illegally collect or store data.
Source: PIPC
