SEOUL, South Korea — Following concerns from South Korean authorities, the Chinese AI firm DeepSeek has temporarily halted downloads of its chatbot applications in South Korea. This was confirmed by South Korean officials on Monday.
The South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission announced that DeepSeek’s apps were removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play in South Korea on Saturday. The company has pledged to collaborate with the agency to bolster privacy safeguards before restoring app availability.
Existing users who have already downloaded DeepSeek on their phones or use it via computers are unaffected by this action. However, Nam Seok, director of the commission’s investigation division, recommended that South Korean DeepSeek users delete the app or refrain from inputting personal data until the privacy issues are resolved.
Due to concerns about excessive data collection, numerous South Korean government bodies and businesses have either blocked DeepSeek access on their networks or banned employee usage.
The South Korean privacy commission, which initiated a review of DeepSeek’s services last month, discovered a lack of transparency concerning third-party data transfers and potentially excessive personal information collection, according to Nam.
While the commission hasn’t estimated DeepSeek’s South Korean user base, a recent Wiseapp Retail analysis indicated approximately 1.2 million smartphone users in South Korea employed DeepSeek during the fourth week of January, making it the second most popular AI model after ChatGPT.