South Korea Says DeepSeek Transferred User Data to China, Us Without Consent

South Korea’s Data Protection Authority Has Concluded That Chinese Artificial Intelligigence Startup DeepSek Collected Personal Information From Local Users and Transferred IT Overseas Witheas Without Air Permission.

The Authority, The Personal Information Protection Commission, Released ITS Written findings On Thursday in Connection With A Privacy and Security Review of DeepSeek.

IT Follows DeepSeek’s Removal Of ITS Chatbot Application From South Korean App Stores in February Recommendation of PICP. The Agency Said DeepSeek Had Committed to Cooperate On it Concerns.

Drying DeepSeek’s Presence in South Korea, IT Transferred User Data to Several Firms in China And The UsEt Obtain From Users Or Disclosing The Practice, The PIPC Said.

The Agency Highlighted A Particular Case in Which DeepSeek Transferred Information From User-Written AI Prompts, As Well as Device, Network, And App Information, To A Chinese Cloud Service Platform Named Volcano Engine Technology Co.

While The PIPC Identified Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co. AS “An affiliate” of Tiktok-Owner Bytelance, The Information Privacy Watchdog Noted in A Statement That The Cloud Platform “is A Separate Legal Entity and Has No Relation To Bytelance,” According to A Google Translation.

According to PIPC, DeepSeek Said Ited Beijing Volcano Engine Technology’s Services to Improve The Security and User Experience of ITS App, But Later Blocked The Transfer of AI Prompt Information From AI Prompt Information.

DeepSeek and Bytelance Did Not Immediately Respond to Inquiries From CNBC.

The Hangzhou-Based AI Startup Took The World in Storm in January When IT Unveiled Its R1 Reasoning Model, Rivaling The Performance Of Western Competitors Of The Company’s Claims That IT WAS Trained for Relivally Low Costs and With Less Advanced Hardware.

However, The App’s Rising Popularity Quickly Triggered National Security And Data Concerns Outside China Due To Beijing’s Requirement For Domestic Firms to Share Data With The Prc. Have Cybersecurity Experts also flagged Data Vulnerabilities in The App and Voiced Concerns About The Company’s Privacy Policy.

PIPC Ten Thursday Said It Had Issued A Corrective Recommendation to DeepSeek, WHIC Indludes Requests to ImMediately Destroy AI Promptue Transferred to Set Up Legal Protocols for Transferring Personal Information Overseas.

When The Data Protection Authority Announced The Removal Of DeepSek From Local App Stores, IT Signaled That The App Would Become Available Again Once The Company Implemented The Necessary Updates To Complely With Local Data Protection Policy.

That Investigation Followed notifications That Some Some South Korean Government Agencies Had Banned Employees From Using DeepSeek On Work Devices. Other Global Government Departments, Including in Taiwan, Australiaand the Us., Have Reportedly Instituted Similar Bans.