German Privacy Watchdog Wants to Ban Chinese AI App DeepSeek
The Chinese AI app DeepSeek is likely to be removed from German app stores. The German data protection authority has stated that the company is in violation of European law.
“China does not have a level of data protection that complies with our GDPR rules,” said Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider of the German data protection regulator in a newspaper interview. Meike Kamp, the data protection authority for the state of Berlin, had already reported DeepSeek to Google and Apple for “illegal content.”
The two American companies must now decide whether to implement a ban. The federal regulator supports Berlin’s request.
Earlier this year, the Belgian Data Protection Authority opened an investigation into DeepSeek following a complaint from the consumer organisation Testaankoop. Action has also been taken against DeepSeek in countries including South Korea, Italy, Taiwan, and Australia. While there is no national ban in the US, several federal agencies, including NASA, have banned their employees from using the app.
In January, the Chinese unveiled a language model that was reportedly as powerful as other AI applications, such as ChatGPT, but more cost-effective and energy-efficient. The app is free.
