South Korea accuses the Seoul-based Chinese AI startup DeepSeek of exchanging user data with TikTok’s owner in China. “We have confirmed the communication between DeepSeek and ByteDance,” the South Korean data protection regulator was cited as saying by the Yonhap News Agency.
The country’s decision caused the matter to go under general administration weekend along with DeepSeek over the matter of data protection. The Chinese app, as early as January, caused tremors in the AI world by erasing billions off global stock markets based on claims its new model trained at much lesser costs than its US competitor, ChatGPT.
Numerous nations have warned since then that user data may not be safe, and in February, a US cybersecurity company claimed an extended potential for data sharing between DeepSeek and ByteDance.
DeepSeek’s meteoric rise seems to have taken the world by surprise. It topped the App Store charts in the UK, US, and many other nations of the world, where it now languishes below ChatGPT in UK rankings.
Over a million downloads later, it was pulled from Apple and Google’s app stores on Saturday evening.
Existing users are still able to access the app and have gotten to it on a web browser.
The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), South Korea’s data watchdog, told Yonhap News Agency they were still looking into the degree to which data is transferred from DeepSeek to ByteDance.
Critics of the Chinese state put that National Intelligence Law provides the government access to any data it wants from Chinese companies.
Although, a number of global investors own ByteDance, Beijing based; while others say the same law allows for protecting private companies and personal data.
Concerns over user data possibly going to China were some of the reasons the Supreme Court upheld a ban on TikTok owned by ByteDance.
Releasing a blog on DeepSeek on February 10, a cybersecurity company Security Scorecard explained “multiple direct references to ByteDance-owned” services.
“This should suggest deep integration with ByteDance’s analytics and performance monitoring infrastructure,” it noted in its review of the Android app DeepSeek.
Security Scorecard raised concern that in addition to privacy risks, “user behaviour and device metadata [are] likely sent to ByteDance servers.”
“Exfiltration of data to domains linked to Chinese state-owned entities” was also uncovered.
On Monday, the PIPC of South Korea reported, “There was traffic generated by third-party data transfers and insufficient transparency in the DeepSeek privacy policy.”
It said that DeepSeek was now cooperating with the regulator, and while it did not pay enough heed to South Korean privacy laws, it expressed regret over its decision.
In the notice to users, the regulator advised them “to exercise caution and avoid giving personal information into the chatbot.”
South Korea is also in line behind other countries, including Australia and Taiwan, in banning DeepSeek on government devices. The BBC has contacted the PIPC, ByteDance and High Flyer, which is DeepSeek’s parent company, for a comment.