South Korea isn’t the first to ban new downloads of the chatbot, with the model disappearing from the Italian App store and Google Play Store in late January 2025 after the country’s data watchdog filed a privacy complaint and asked for information on how DeepSeek handles users’ personal information.

Besides South Korea, several other countries such as Australia and Taiwan have also banned the use of DeepSeek on government devices.

Chinese AI firm DeepSeek has temporarily suspended downloads of its chatbot applications in South Korea while working with to address concerns.

DeepSeek's AI chatbot removed from South Korean app stores due to data privacy concerns. Authorities launch review; Italy and Australia also investigate.

VOICEOVER ENG South Korea Bans DeepSeek Over Data-Sharing Concerns with ByteDance South Korea has accused Chinese AI startup DeepSeek of sharing user data with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok The country’s data protection regulator confirmed the link and removed DeepSeek from app stores over privacy concerns The AI app,

South Korea has moved to shut down the artificial intelligence (AI) app DeepSeek, citing data privacy concerns tied to its links with Chinese tech giant ByteDance. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said the app would be removed from Google Play and Apple's App Store at 6 pm local time on 15,