South Korea Halts DeepSeek App Downloads in Local Stores
April 10, 2025
HenryTurner
71
On Saturday, South Korean officials put a temporary hold on downloads of the Chinese AI Lab DeepSeek's app from app stores in the country. They're doing this while they figure out how the Chinese company deals with user data. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) mentioned that the app can be downloaded again once DeepSeek follows Korean privacy laws and makes the required tweaks.
This restriction won't mess with folks who are already using the app or the web service in South Korea. But, the data protection authority is kinda nudging current users to hold off on entering personal info into DeepSeek until they make their final call.
After DeepSeek rolled out its service in South Korea towards the end of January, the PIPC got in touch with the Chinese AI lab to ask about their data collection and processing methods. They found some issues with DeepSeek's third-party services and privacy policies during their review.
The PICC told TechCrunch that their investigation showed DeepSeek had sent South Korean user data over to ByteDance, which is TikTok's parent company.
DeepSeek hasn't gotten back to us yet about this whole thing.
The agency said that DeepSeek recently got a local rep in South Korea and admitted they weren't up to speed on South Korea's privacy laws when they launched. Last Friday, the Chinese company also said they'd work closely with Korean authorities.
Earlier this month, South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the police, and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a state-run company, temporarily blocked DeepSeek on their official devices due to security worries.
South Korea isn't the only one being careful about DeepSeek because of its Chinese roots. Australia has banned DeepSeek on government devices for security reasons. Italy's data protection authority, the Garante, told DeepSeek to block its chatbot in the country, and Taiwan has stopped government departments from using DeepSeek AI.
DeepSeek, based in Hangzhou and founded by Liang Feng in 2023, launched DeepSeek R1, a free, open-source reasoning AI model that's going head-to-head with OpenAI's ChatGPT.
> DeepSeek: The countries and agencies that have banned the AI company’s tech
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Comments (40)
0/200
![JackLewis]()
JackLewis
April 11, 2025 at 4:56:24 AM GMT
This app got blocked in South Korea? Honestly, it's a bit scary thinking about how they handle our data. I was curious about trying it out, but now I'm hesitant. Maybe they should be more transparent about their data policies. Still, it's a bummer not being able to use it here.
0
![RalphJohnson]()
RalphJohnson
April 10, 2025 at 10:02:30 AM GMT
韓国でこのアプリがブロックされたなんて、ちょっと怖いですね。データの扱い方が気になります。試してみたかったのに、今はためらっています。データポリシーをもっと透明にすべきだと思います。それでも、使えないのは残念です。
0
![GaryWilson]()
GaryWilson
April 10, 2025 at 10:29:48 PM GMT
한국에서 이 앱이 차단되었다니, 데이터 처리 방식이 좀 무서워요. 사용해보고 싶었는데 지금은 망설여져요. 데이터 정책을 더 투명하게 해야 한다고 생각해요. 그래도 여기서 못 쓰는 건 아쉽네요.
0
![BillyGarcia]()
BillyGarcia
April 12, 2025 at 8:26:25 AM GMT
Este aplicativo foi bloqueado na Coreia do Sul? É um pouco assustador pensar em como eles lidam com nossos dados. Eu estava curioso para experimentar, mas agora estou hesitante. Talvez eles devam ser mais transparentes sobre suas políticas de dados. Ainda assim, é uma pena não poder usá-lo aqui.
0
![DouglasMitchell]()
DouglasMitchell
April 11, 2025 at 11:00:56 PM GMT
Este app fue bloqueado en Corea del Sur? La verdad es que da un poco de miedo pensar en cómo manejan nuestros datos. Estaba curioso por probarlo, pero ahora lo pienso dos veces. Deberían ser más transparentes con sus políticas de datos. Aún así, es una lástima no poder usarlo aquí.
0
![SamuelClark]()
SamuelClark
April 12, 2025 at 12:22:17 PM GMT
South Korea's move to halt DeepSeek app downloads is pretty frustrating. I was just getting into using it for my daily routine, and now I'm left hanging. It's a bummer, but I get why they're cautious about data privacy. Hope they sort it out soon so we can get back to using it!
0
April 10, 2025
HenryTurner
71
On Saturday, South Korean officials put a temporary hold on downloads of the Chinese AI Lab DeepSeek's app from app stores in the country. They're doing this while they figure out how the Chinese company deals with user data. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) mentioned that the app can be downloaded again once DeepSeek follows Korean privacy laws and makes the required tweaks.
This restriction won't mess with folks who are already using the app or the web service in South Korea. But, the data protection authority is kinda nudging current users to hold off on entering personal info into DeepSeek until they make their final call.
After DeepSeek rolled out its service in South Korea towards the end of January, the PIPC got in touch with the Chinese AI lab to ask about their data collection and processing methods. They found some issues with DeepSeek's third-party services and privacy policies during their review.
The PICC told TechCrunch that their investigation showed DeepSeek had sent South Korean user data over to ByteDance, which is TikTok's parent company.
DeepSeek hasn't gotten back to us yet about this whole thing.
The agency said that DeepSeek recently got a local rep in South Korea and admitted they weren't up to speed on South Korea's privacy laws when they launched. Last Friday, the Chinese company also said they'd work closely with Korean authorities.
Earlier this month, South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the police, and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a state-run company, temporarily blocked DeepSeek on their official devices due to security worries.
South Korea isn't the only one being careful about DeepSeek because of its Chinese roots. Australia has banned DeepSeek on government devices for security reasons. Italy's data protection authority, the Garante, told DeepSeek to block its chatbot in the country, and Taiwan has stopped government departments from using DeepSeek AI.
DeepSeek, based in Hangzhou and founded by Liang Feng in 2023, launched DeepSeek R1, a free, open-source reasoning AI model that's going head-to-head with OpenAI's ChatGPT.
> DeepSeek: The countries and agencies that have banned the AI company’s tech
Former DeepSeeker and collaborators release new method for training reliable AI agents: RAGEN
The Year of AI Agents: A Closer Look at 2025's Expectations and Realities2025 was heralded by many experts as the year when AI agents—specialized AI systems powered by advanced large language and multimodal models from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and DeepSeek—would finally take center
DeepSeek's AIs Uncover True Human Desires
DeepSeek's Breakthrough in AI Reward Models: Enhancing AI Reasoning and Response
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, in collaboration with Tsinghua University, has achieved a significant milestone in AI research. Their innovative approach to AI reward models promises to revolutionize how AI systems learn
Researchers Develop Open-Source Rival to OpenAI's $50 'Reasoning' Model for Under $50
Last Friday, a groundbreaking research paper from AI experts at Stanford and the University of Washington hit the scene, revealing that they managed to develop an AI "reasoning" model, dubbed s1, for under $50 in cloud compute credits. This revelation is shaking up the AI world, as s1 holds its own
April 11, 2025 at 4:56:24 AM GMT
This app got blocked in South Korea? Honestly, it's a bit scary thinking about how they handle our data. I was curious about trying it out, but now I'm hesitant. Maybe they should be more transparent about their data policies. Still, it's a bummer not being able to use it here.
0
April 10, 2025 at 10:02:30 AM GMT
韓国でこのアプリがブロックされたなんて、ちょっと怖いですね。データの扱い方が気になります。試してみたかったのに、今はためらっています。データポリシーをもっと透明にすべきだと思います。それでも、使えないのは残念です。
0
April 10, 2025 at 10:29:48 PM GMT
한국에서 이 앱이 차단되었다니, 데이터 처리 방식이 좀 무서워요. 사용해보고 싶었는데 지금은 망설여져요. 데이터 정책을 더 투명하게 해야 한다고 생각해요. 그래도 여기서 못 쓰는 건 아쉽네요.
0
April 12, 2025 at 8:26:25 AM GMT
Este aplicativo foi bloqueado na Coreia do Sul? É um pouco assustador pensar em como eles lidam com nossos dados. Eu estava curioso para experimentar, mas agora estou hesitante. Talvez eles devam ser mais transparentes sobre suas políticas de dados. Ainda assim, é uma pena não poder usá-lo aqui.
0
April 11, 2025 at 11:00:56 PM GMT
Este app fue bloqueado en Corea del Sur? La verdad es que da un poco de miedo pensar en cómo manejan nuestros datos. Estaba curioso por probarlo, pero ahora lo pienso dos veces. Deberían ser más transparentes con sus políticas de datos. Aún así, es una lástima no poder usarlo aquí.
0
April 12, 2025 at 12:22:17 PM GMT
South Korea's move to halt DeepSeek app downloads is pretty frustrating. I was just getting into using it for my daily routine, and now I'm left hanging. It's a bummer, but I get why they're cautious about data privacy. Hope they sort it out soon so we can get back to using it!
0
