A new measure introduced in South Korea that takes effect Saturday blocks new downloads of the DeepSeek app but leaves its web service available. The Chinese startup hired legal representatives in South Korea and admitted to failing to comply with the country’s data protection law. Italy’s data protection authority had already ordered DeepSeek to pull the plug on its chatbot due to privacy issues.
In response to earlier South Korean efforts to block DeepSeek, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman adamantly underlined China’s devotion to data privacy and security, saying Beijing does not direct companies to break the law.