On February 17, South Korea's data protection and governance agency announced that China's AI application would be banned in South Korea, accusing it of failing to comply with local data protection laws.
According to Reuters, the Korean data protection agency has asked technology companies such as Apple and Google to take measures to prevent users from downloading apps. However, DeepSeek can still be accessed through a web browser, at least for now. The Korean regulatory agency stated that the application did not comply with the law of the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC).
Reuters also mentioned that DeepSeek has appointed a legal representative in South Korea and admitted that it has partly ignored the country's data protection laws. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the Chinese government granted great importance to privacy, data security and its protection under the law.
According to the Korean regulatory agency, DeepSeek may continue operating in this country as soon as the changes are made to ensure compliance with the country's privacy laws.
Before South Korea, Italy was the first country to ban DeepSeek for private reasons. Meanwhile, a US Congressman has proposed a bill to punish users of the Chinese AI app.
Despite the above problems, DeepSeek still topped the US App Store last month, surpassing OpenAI's ChatGPT. The DeepSeek app was the 13th most downloaded app in the most recent month.
