{"slug": "factbox-governments-regulators-increase-scrutiny-of-china-s-deepseek", "title": "Factbox-Governments, regulators increase scrutiny of China's DeepSeek", "summary": "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is ordering the removal of DeepSeek products from civilian agency IT systems, the latest government action against the Chinese AI startup that said in January last year it had built a model rivaling ChatGPT at much lower cost. The order adds to restrictions imposed by Australia, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Italy and the Netherlands, which have cited data security and privacy concerns tied to DeepSeek's practice of storing user requests and uploaded files on computers in China. Italy's antitrust watchdog AGCM closed its investigation into DeepSeek after the company agreed to binding commitments, while France's and the Netherlands' privacy watchdogs launched inquiries into its data practices.", "body_md": "Oct 20 (Reuters) - Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which said in January last year it had developed an AI model to rival ChatGPT at a much lower cost, has come under scrutiny in some countries for its security policies and privacy practices.\n\nThe US Department of Homeland Security is ordering the removal of DeepSeek products from civilian agency IT systems, the latest action against the Chinese AI startup.\n\nAccording to its own privacy policy, DeepSeek stores numerous pieces of personal data, such as requests to its AI programme or uploaded files, on computers in China.\n\nBelow are countries' actions regarding DeepSeek:\n\nAUSTRALIA\n\nIn February last year, Australia banned DeepSeek from all government devices over concerns that it posed security risks.\n\nCZECH REPUBLIC\n\nThe Czech government banned the country's public administration from using any of the services of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek in July last year, due to data security concerns.\n\nFRANCE\n\nFrance's privacy watchdog said in January 2025 it will question DeepSeek to gain a better idea of how the Chinese startup's AI system works and any possible privacy risks for users.\n\nGERMANY\n\nGermany has asked Apple and Google to remove DeepSeek from their stores due to concerns about data safety, a data protection authority commissioner said in June last year.\n\nINDIA\n\nIndia's finance ministry asked its employees at the beginning of February last year to avoid using AI tools including ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official purposes, citing risks posed to confidentiality of government documents and data.\n\nITALY\n\nItaly's antitrust watchdog AGCM has ended an investigation into the Chinese AI system DeepSeek for allegedly failing to warn users that it may produce false information, agreeing to binding commitments as a condition for closing the case.\n\nEarlier last year, it blocked the app citing a lack of information on its use of personal data.\n\nNETHERLANDS\n\nThe Netherlands' privacy watchdog said in January last year, it would launch an investigation into Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek's data collection practices and urged Dutch users to exercise caution with the company's software.\n\nThe government has also banned civil servants from using the app, citing policy regarding countries with an offensive cyber program, the government spokesperson said in late July.\n\nRUSSIA\n\nRussia's President Vladimir Putin in early February last year instructed Sberbank to collaborate with Chinese researchers on joint AI projects, a top executive at Russia's biggest bank told Reuters.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/factbox-governments-regulators-increase-scrutiny-of-china-s-deepseek", "canonical_source": "https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/factbox-governments-regulators-increase-scrutiny-095326196.html", "published_at": "2026-10-20 11:37:59+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-20 12:17:37.820953+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "artificial-intelligence", "generative-ai", "ai-safety"], "entities": ["DeepSeek", "U.S. Department of Homeland Security", "Australia", "Czech Republic", "Germany", "Italy's AGCM", "Netherlands", "Vladimir Putin"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/factbox-governments-regulators-increase-scrutiny-of-china-s-deepseek", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/factbox-governments-regulators-increase-scrutiny-of-china-s-deepseek.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/factbox-governments-regulators-increase-scrutiny-of-china-s-deepseek.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/factbox-governments-regulators-increase-scrutiny-of-china-s-deepseek.jsonld"}}