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Confirming security concerns with the Chinese AI, South Korea’s data protection watchdog has confirmed that DeepSeek sent user data to TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Speaking with South Korean publication Yonhap News, the nation’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has confirmed that DeepSeek sent user data to ByteDance.
“We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance,” said a PIPC official.
The official added that it is “yet to confirm what data was transferred and to what extent”.
The news closely follows South Korea suspending new downloads of the Chinese AI chatbot, citing issues with the company’s data collection and breaches of South Korean data protection legislation.
DeepSeek’s legal representatives in South Korea acknowledged that it failed to address parts of the nation’s data protection law.
Under South Korean data protection legislation, organisations require explicit consent to share data with a third-party organisation.
The PIPC said that once DeepSeek takes into account its data protection legislation, downloads of the app would be resumed.
“To prevent further concerns from spreading, the commission recommended that DeepSeek temporarily suspend its service while making the necessary improvements,” said the commission.
The PIPC added that the changes DeepSeek would be required to make would “inevitably take a significant amount of time”.
South Korea has already ruled against government employees using DeepSeek on government devices.
Italy, which was one of the first nations to ban DeepSeek, also said its reasoning was DeepSeek’s failure to adhere to the nation’s data protection legislation.
The Australian federal government, as well as state governments, have also banned the platform for government devices.
“The Albanese government is taking swift and decisive action to protect Australia’s national security and national interest,” Tony Burke, the Minister for Home Affairs, said.
“AI is a technology full of potential and opportunity – but the government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk.”
However, Minister Burke added that DeepSeek’s country of origin – China – was not the direct cause of concern. Rather, it was the wider risk the chatbot posed to government assets.
Despite exemptions from the federal government ban, federal corporations AusPost, the NBN and the ABC have also banned the platform.
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