The government of South Korea has officially halted new downloads of the Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek, effective immediately, until the service modifies its mobile apps to adhere to the country’s data protection regulations.
As of February 15, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. local time, downloads of the app have been paused, according to a statement from the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC). However, users can still access the web service.
The agency initiated its review of DeepSeek shortly after its launch and discovered “shortcomings in communication functions and personal information processing policies with third-party service providers.”
According to the PIPC, DeepSeek has recently appointed a local representative and acknowledged that it failed to consider domestic privacy laws when launching the service.
Consequently, downloads of the app will remain suspended until the company implements necessary improvements to comply with the Personal Information Protection Act.
The agency has announced that “this temporary suspension of the DeepSeek app restricts new app downloads from the app market, and we advise existing users to exercise caution, such as not entering personal information in the DeepSeek input window (prompt) until the final results are announced.”
Furthermore, the PIPC aims to ensure compliance and provide guidance to prevent similar incidents in the future.
This development comes after South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) criticized the service for “excessively” collecting personal data and using it to train its AI systems.
Recently, security vulnerabilities were discovered in DeepSeek’s Android and iOS apps, allowing certain data to be sent to its servers in unencrypted format.
Beijing has stated that it permits internet companies to operate in the country as long as they comply with local laws and regulations, and it would never request any company or individual to collect or store data in breach of laws.
