South Korea’s data protection regulator has accused DeepSeek of sending citizens’ data using its AI chatbot to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance. This accusation comes a day after ordering a temporary block on new DeepSeek downloads over privacy concerns.
“We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance,” an official at the country’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) told Yonhap News Agency, adding that it is “yet to confirm what data was transferred and to what extent.”
While not directly commenting on such allegations, DeepSeek reportedly acknowledged “shortcomings in considering local protection laws” and expressed the commitment to cooperate with the regulator on the matter.
Chinese tech under increased scrutiny
South Korea may be the first to formally accuse DeepSeek of illegally sharing users’ data with the controversial TikTok owner, but it’s not the only country going after the new Chinese AI chatbot on privacy grounds.
DeepSeek has sent some serious shockwaves across the globe since January’s release, in fact. With 12 million curious people worldwide downloading the new app within 48 hours of its launch, governments have been increasingly looking at DeepSeek’s phenomenon with suspicion.
Italy, France, Germany, the US, Taiwan, Australia, and South Korea are only some of the countries targeting DeepSeek AI. Most are accusing the new Chinese AI chatbot of violating the country’s data protection laws.
DeepSeek’s issues are mainly linked to the fact the chatbot stored all users’ data on its Chinese servers and, as per the platform’s privacy policy, will be used to “comply with our legal obligations, or as necessary to perform tasks in the public interest, or to protect the vital interests of our users and other people.”
Now, South Korea’s PIPC allegations are reinforcing growing concerns among Western governments about how their citizens’ data is processed by such companies.
Concerns about Americans’ data ending up in the Chinese government’s hands are one of the reasons behind the push for a TikTok ban in the US.
Outside the US, many countries including the UK and some European nations have also banned TikTok from officials’ devices over security concerns.
ByteDance, however, has long dismissed these risks – and it did so also for the new accusation brought toward by South Korea.
As The Independent reported, TikTok’s parent company believes its link with DeepSeek is simply because the AI chatbot uses the cloud services provided by Volcano Engine, which is owned by ByteDance. Yet, this “does not mean it has access to DeepSeek data,” the paper notes.
South Korea’s data regulator isn’t the only one suggesting the two Chinese companies are communicating. A recent report published by cybersecurity firm SecuirtyScorecard has also found “integration with ByteDance‘s services” within DeepSeek’s code.
What’s certain now is that the provider operating Deepseek will have to respond to South Korean officials’ clarifications over the matter now that an official investigation into its data handling practices has been launched.
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chiara.castro@futurenet.com (Chiara Castro)
