South Korea Alleges That DeepSeek Disclosed User Information
Seoul has taken action to remove the Chinese AI assistant from local app stores due to allegations that it sent data to TikTok owner ByteDance. Read Full Article at RT.com
TroibNews 
The Chinese AI assistant has been removed from local app stores following accusations of data sharing with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
According to a report by the Yonhap news agency on Tuesday, South Korea’s national data protection regulator has accused the creators of the Chinese AI service DeepSeek of transferring user information to ByteDance. Earlier this week, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) of Seoul announced that access to the DeepSeek chatbot has been “temporarily” suspended as a review of the data collection practices of the Chinese startup is underway. Consequently, DeepSeek’s applications were taken down from local app stores, and access to its web service has been blocked since Saturday.
In a statement shared by Yonhap, the PIPC indicated that it has “confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance” but emphasizes that it remains uncertain “what data was transferred and to what extent.”
The report highlighted that South Korean law mandates explicit user consent when transferring personal information to third parties.
In light of the allegations, DeepSeek has announced the appointment of a special representative in South Korea and acknowledged its shortcomings in adhering to local data protection regulations. The startup has committed to cooperating fully with South Korean authorities to address the concerns.
The Hangzhou-based DeepSeek ignited a technological ‘arms race’ in January by launching an open-source version of its reasoning AI model, R1. The company claims this model was developed at a significantly lower cost while matching the performance of competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Unlike its American counterpart, the Chinese chatbot is freely available and does not require a subscription, which has facilitated its rapid rise to become the most downloaded app on both Apple’s and Google’s stores.
Frederick R Cook for TROIB News
According to a report by the Yonhap news agency on Tuesday, South Korea’s national data protection regulator has accused the creators of the Chinese AI service DeepSeek of transferring user information to ByteDance. Earlier this week, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) of Seoul announced that access to the DeepSeek chatbot has been “temporarily” suspended as a review of the data collection practices of the Chinese startup is underway. Consequently, DeepSeek’s applications were taken down from local app stores, and access to its web service has been blocked since Saturday.
In a statement shared by Yonhap, the PIPC indicated that it has “confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance” but emphasizes that it remains uncertain “what data was transferred and to what extent.”
The report highlighted that South Korean law mandates explicit user consent when transferring personal information to third parties.
In light of the allegations, DeepSeek has announced the appointment of a special representative in South Korea and acknowledged its shortcomings in adhering to local data protection regulations. The startup has committed to cooperating fully with South Korean authorities to address the concerns.
The Hangzhou-based DeepSeek ignited a technological ‘arms race’ in January by launching an open-source version of its reasoning AI model, R1. The company claims this model was developed at a significantly lower cost while matching the performance of competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Unlike its American counterpart, the Chinese chatbot is freely available and does not require a subscription, which has facilitated its rapid rise to become the most downloaded app on both Apple’s and Google’s stores.
Frederick R Cook for TROIB News
