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South Korea is once again allowing Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek to be downloaded locally after a two-month break.
When DeepSeek first launched in January, the South Korean Personal Information Protection Commission flagged the app as breaching local data protection legislation, saying that it transferred prompts and user data without permission.
“To prevent further concerns from spreading, the commission recommended that DeepSeek temporarily suspend its service while making the necessary improvements,” said the commission, adding that it would resume allowing DeepSeek to be downloaded following changes.
Legal representatives for DeepSeek acknowledged the data protection breaches.
Now, DeepSeek has changed its privacy policy to say it follows South Korea’s privacy legislation.
“We process your personal information in compliance with the Personal Information Protection Act of Korea,” the app’s privacy policy now reads.
Users are now able to refuse data transfer to other companies, and South Korea has restored downloads.
When DeepSeek was announced, South Korea banned the app for government employees, a move that appears not to have been reversed.
Italy, which was one of the first nations to ban DeepSeek, also said its reasoning was DeepSeek’s failure to adhere to the nation’s data protection legislation.
The Australian federal government, as well as state governments, have also banned the platform for government devices.
“The Albanese government is taking swift and decisive action to protect Australia’s national security and national interest,” Tony Burke, the Minister for Home Affairs, said.
“AI is a technology full of potential and opportunity – but the government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk.”
However, Minister Burke added that DeepSeek’s country of origin – China – was not the direct cause of concern. Rather, it was the wider risk the chatbot posed to government assets.
Despite exemptions from the federal government ban, federal corporations AusPost, the NBN, and the ABC have also banned the platform.
The ABC, the nation’s national broadcaster, announced that it would be banning access to the AI chatbot.
“While the ABC is not obliged to adhere to [the federal government] directive, the ABC has assessed the risks to privacy, security and data protection in the use of this service and are in agreement with the directive,” the broadcaster told staff.
The ABC’s ban launched on 6 February and saw the broadcaster instruct its staff to remove the app from their devices.
The NBN also told Information Age that “after careful consideration”, it would be banning access to the platform.
Australia Post also said it was “disabling access to DeepSeek AI on all devices, in line with our commitment to data security”.
All three organisations, like the federal government, cite security risks as the reason for banning the platform.
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