DeepSeek faces expulsion from app stores in Germany

DeepSeek faces expulsion from app stores in Germany

FRANKFURT: Germany has taken steps towards blocking Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from the Apple and Google app stores due to concerns about data protection, according to a data protection authority commissioner in a statement on Friday.

DeepSeek has been reported to the two U.S. tech giants as illegal content, said commissioner Meike Kamp, and the companies must now review the concerns and decide whether to block the app in Germany.

鈥淒eepSeek has not been able to provide my agency with convincing evidence that German users鈥 data is protected in China to a level equivalent to that in the European Union,鈥 she said.

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鈥淐hinese authorities have far-reaching access rights to personal data within the sphere of influence of Chinese companies,鈥 she added.

The move comes after Reuters exclusively reported this week that DeepSeek is aiding China鈥檚 military and intelligence operations.

DeepSeek, which shook the technology world in January with claims that it had developed an AI model that rivaled those from U.S. firms such as ChatGPT creator OpenAI at much lower cost, says it stores numerous personal data, such as requests to the AI or uploaded files, on computers in China.

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