{"slug": "is-deepseek-banned-every-country-and-us-state-that-bans-it-and-where-you-can-use", "title": "Is DeepSeek banned? Every country and US state that bans it, and where you can still use it", "summary": "The US Department of Homeland Security published Exclusion and Removal Order 2026-01 in the Federal Register on October 20, 2026, directing every federal civilian agency to stop buying DeepSeek products immediately and remove them, along with third-party tools built on DeepSeek, from their IT systems. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin signed the order on July 24, 2026; national security systems at the Pentagon and spy agencies fall outside it, and agencies have 60 days to request an exception. Italy remains the only country blocking DeepSeek's app for the general public, while the US, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, Czechia, Belgium, India, the UK, Japan, South Korea and dozens of US states restrict it on government devices only.", "body_md": "DeepSeek’s logo, from the company’s official GitHub repository. Image: DeepSeek\n\nDeepSeek is legal for ordinary people almost everywhere: Italy is the only country that blocks its app for the public, while the US, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, Czechia, Belgium and dozens of US states ban it on government devices. The newest and widest of those bans came on October 20, 2026, when the US Department of Homeland Security [published an order](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/20/2026-21447/notice-of-order-regarding-exclusion-and-removal-of-deepseek-products-from-federal-civilian-executive) telling every federal civilian agency to remove DeepSeek and any third-party tool built on it. Here is where DeepSeek is banned, country by country, why governments are blocking it, and what that means if you just want to use it.\n\n**Jump to:**\n\n[Where DeepSeek is banned](#countries)\n\n[US](#us)\n\n[UK](#uk)\n\n[India](#india)\n\n[Australia](#australia)\n\n[Canada](#canada)\n\n[Italy, Germany and Europe](#europe)\n\n[South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China](#asia)\n\n[Why it’s banned](#why)\n\n[Can I still use it?](#can-i-use)\n\n[FAQ](#faq)\n\n## Is DeepSeek banned? Every country at a glance\n\nMost of these measures cover government phones, laptops and networks only. They don’t stop members of the public downloading the app, using the website or calling the API.\n\n| Country | Public use | Government devices | Since | \n|---|---|---|---|\n| Italy | App blocked | Blocked for everyone | Jan 30, 2025 | \n| United States | Allowed | Banned in federal civilian agencies and many states | Jan 2025 (states), Oct 2026 (federal) | \n| Australia | Allowed | Banned, federal and state | Feb 4, 2025 | \n| Taiwan | Allowed | Banned across the public sector | Jan 31, 2025 | \n| South Korea | Allowed again | Blocked by several ministries | Feb 2025 | \n| Czechia | Allowed | Banned in state administration | Jul 9, 2025 | \n| Belgium | Allowed | Banned on federal work devices | Dec 1, 2025 | \n| Canada | Allowed | Blocked on federal phones, banned in British Columbia | Feb 2025 | \n| Netherlands | Allowed | Central government staff told not to use it | Feb 2025 | \n| India | Allowed | Finance ministry office devices | Jan 29, 2025 | \n| United Kingdom | Allowed | Not approved for official work | Jul 2026 | \n| Japan | Allowed | Officials asked to avoid it | Feb 2025 | \n| Germany | Allowed | No national ban | n/a | \n| China | Allowed | No ban | n/a | \n\nScroll the table sideways on a phone.\n\n## Is DeepSeek banned in the US?\n\nDeepSeek is banned on US government systems, not for the public. The DHS order, Exclusion and Removal Order 2026-01, was signed by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on July 24, 2026 and published in the Federal Register on October 20. It tells federal civilian agencies to stop buying DeepSeek products “effective immediately” and to remove them from their IT systems, along with “third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek implementations”. The Pentagon’s and spy agencies’ national security systems fall outside it, and agencies have 60 days to ask for an exception. Our [story on the DHS order](https://madrobot.blog/2026/10/19/us-bans-deepseek-federal-agencies-dhs-order-remove-third-party/) has the details.\n\nStates moved first. Texas banned DeepSeek on state devices in January 2025, and [New York](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-issues-statewide-ban-deepseek-artificial-intelligence-government-devices-and), Virginia, Iowa, Nebraska, [Oklahoma](https://oklahoma.gov/governor/newsroom/newsroom/2025/-governor-stitt-bans-deepseek-on-all-state-owned-devices-due-to-.html), Alabama and others followed, mostly in early 2025. Those bans cover state-issued phones, laptops and networks.\n\n**Is it illegal to use DeepSeek in the USA?** No law stops a private person or company in the US from using DeepSeek’s app, website or API. Bills that would go further, such as the [No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/765) and the [No Adversarial AI Act](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2177), are still sitting in committee. If you work for a federal agency, a state government or a government contractor, check your employer’s rules.\n\n## Is DeepSeek banned in the UK?\n\nDeepSeek is not banned in the UK. A government minister said in a [Lords written answer](https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-01-28/HL4479) in February 2025 that “the use of DeepSeek is a personal choice”, adding that as a Chinese company, data typed into it “will be sent to China and thus is subject to Chinese law”. For civil servants the rule is stricter but not DeepSeek-specific: the Cabinet Office said in a [Commons written answer](https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-06-01/5298) in July 2026 that consumer AI tools, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek and Grok, can’t be used for official business unless a department has approved them. The Department for Work and Pensions goes further, and its [acceptable use policy](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-procurement-security-policies-and-standards/acceptable-use-policy) says staff “must not attempt to access DeepSeek AI on DWP devices.”\n\nIf you can’t find DeepSeek in the UK App Store, that’s because the iPhone app is listed there as “DSeek - Your AI Assistant”. It’s published by the same company, Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence.\n\n## Is DeepSeek banned in India?\n\nDeepSeek is not banned in India, and its app and website work normally. The only known restriction is an internal Finance Ministry note dated January 29, 2025 telling staff to avoid AI apps, naming both ChatGPT and DeepSeek, on office computers and devices. That note was never published, and no wider ban followed.\n\n## Is DeepSeek banned in Australia?\n\nDeepSeek is banned on Australian government systems but not for the public. The Department of Home Affairs issued [Protective Security Policy Framework Direction 001-2025](https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/foi/files/2026/fa-251200223-document-released.PDF) on February 4, 2025, telling federal agencies to “prevent the access, use or installation” of DeepSeek products on all government systems and mobile devices and to remove any they already had. States followed: [Western Australia](https://www.wa.gov.au/system/files/2025-02/cybersecuritydirectiondeepseek.pdf), [Victoria](https://www.vic.gov.au/direction-use-deepseek-products-applications-and-web-services), New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia all ban it on government devices. Victoria’s rules make an exception for open-source models that don’t connect to DeepSeek.\n\n## Is DeepSeek banned in Canada?\n\nDeepSeek is not banned for the public in Canada. In February 2025 the federal government’s chief information officer, Dominic Rochon, said DeepSeek was already blocked on phones managed by Shared Services Canada and recommended that other departments block it too, citing “serious privacy concerns”. British Columbia banned it on provincial government devices the same month.\n\n## Is DeepSeek banned in Italy, Germany and the rest of Europe?\n\n**Italy** is the one country where the public can’t get the app. Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, [ordered DeepSeek](https://www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/10098477) on January 30, 2025 to stop processing the data of people in Italy, with immediate effect, after the company said it wasn’t subject to European privacy law. The app has been missing from Italy’s Apple and Google app stores ever since. Italy’s competition authority [closed a separate case](https://en.agcm.it/dotcmsdoc/pressrelease/PS12942_acc.%20imp.+chius..pdf) in December 2025 after DeepSeek agreed to show Italian users clearer warnings that its answers can be wrong. That decision notes the web chat is still reachable from Italy.\n\n**Germany** hasn’t banned DeepSeek. Berlin’s data protection commissioner [reported the app to Apple and Google](https://www.datenschutz-berlin.de/pressemitteilung/berliner-datenschutzbeauftragte-meldet-ki-app-deepseek-in-deutschland-bei-apple-und-google-als-rechtswidrigen-inhalt/) as illegal content in June 2025, saying it sends users’ data to China without adequate protection. According to the commissioner’s [2025 annual report](https://www.datenschutz-berlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/jahresbericht/BlnBDI_Jahresbericht-2025.pdf), both companies refused to remove it, and the app is still in the German App Store.\n\n**Elsewhere in Europe**, the bans cover government staff only. Czechia’s government banned DeepSeek across state administration on July 9, 2025, on the advice of its cyber security agency, NÚKIB, but its [guidance](https://nukib.gov.cz/download/publikace/podpurne_materialy/Metodicky%20material%20k%20usneseni_DeepSeek.pdf) allows open-source DeepSeek models run locally with no link to DeepSeek’s servers. Belgium banned it on federal government work devices from December 1, 2025, and the Netherlands told central government staff not to use it in February 2025. France, Spain and Ireland have not banned it, and European privacy regulators agreed in February 2025 to [coordinate their work on DeepSeek](https://www.edpb.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2026-04/meetings/minutes/20250211finalminutes102ndplenary_en.pdf) through a joint task force.\n\n## Is DeepSeek banned in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China?\n\n- **South Korea:** the Personal Information Protection Commission[paused new downloads](https://www.pipc.go.kr/np/cop/bbs/selectBoardArticle.do?bbsId=BS074&mCode=C020010000&nttId=11007) of the app from February 15, 2025, though existing users and the website were unaffected. After DeepSeek accepted the regulator’s[corrective recommendations](https://www.pipc.go.kr/np/cop/bbs/selectBoardArticle.do?bbsId=BS074&mCode=C020010000&nttId=11145) , downloads came back on April 28, 2025. Several ministries, including defence, foreign affairs and trade, still block it on their computers.\n- **Taiwan:** the Ministry of Digital Affairs[barred government agencies](https://moda.gov.tw/press/press-releases/15104) from using DeepSeek on January 31, 2025, and the Premier[extended that](https://www.ey.gov.tw/Page/9277F759E41CCD91/3ce9fe8f-2f5f-4d1d-8176-6fa4cf622b82) to a full ban across the public sector days later. The ministry has[said](https://moda.gov.tw/ACS/press/news/press/15296) it isn’t restricting the public.\n- **Japan:** no ban, but the government warned in February 2025 that data is stored in China under Chinese law and asked officials to think carefully before using it.\n- **China and Russia:** DeepSeek is a Chinese company and its home market is China. We found no restriction on DeepSeek in Russia.\n\n## Why is DeepSeek banned?\n\nAlmost every ban gives the same reason: where your data goes. DeepSeek’s own [privacy policy](https://cdn.deepseek.com/policies/en-US/deepseek-privacy-policy.html) (last updated February 10, 2026) says “we directly collect, process and store your Personal Data in People’s Republic of China.” Governments worry that Chinese law lets the state demand access to that data, and that officials typing work into a chatbot could hand it over. The DHS order also says DeepSeek may “track and digitally fingerprint users” and that its models “may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities”. In Europe the argument is a legal one: regulators in Italy and Berlin say DeepSeek hasn’t shown that Europeans’ data is protected to EU standards once it reaches China.\n\nCritics also point to the way DeepSeek’s app censors topics that are politically sensitive in China, but that isn’t the legal basis for any of the bans. Concerns about Chinese labs’ safety testing are growing too: few of them [publish safety results](https://madrobot.blog/2026/10/09/china-ai-labs-safety-results-857-models-deepseek-semianalysis/) at launch.\n\n## Can I still use DeepSeek?\n\nOutside Italy, and outside government work, yes. The app, the website at chat.deepseek.com and the paid API all work in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, Germany and almost everywhere else. Whether you should is a separate question, and the answer depends on what you type into it: everything you send to DeepSeek’s own app or API is stored in China.\n\nThere is a way round that. DeepSeek releases its models as open weights, so you can run them on your own computer or use them through a company that hosts them on its own servers, for example the [free DeepSeek API through NVIDIA](https://madrobot.blog/2026/09/26/free-deepseek-kimi-glm-api-nvidia/). Your prompts then don’t go to DeepSeek at all, and both Czechia’s and Victoria’s bans make an exception for exactly that. The US order is stricter, covering third-party tools “developed using DeepSeek implementations”, so federal staff can’t use those either. Where a ban names DeepSeek’s products, it covers more than the chatbot: the US order also takes in tools such as its [Harness coding app](https://madrobot.blog/2026/10/01/deepseek-harness-download-install-windows-mac-linux-free/) and its API, including the latest [V4.1 Flash model](https://madrobot.blog/2026/10/17/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017-beats-claude-opus-5-benchmarks-price/).\n\n*Last checked: October 20, 2026, against the DHS order in the Federal Register, the Garante and AGCM decisions, Berlin’s data protection commissioner, UK Parliament written answers and the DWP policy, Australia’s Home Affairs, Western Australia and Victoria directions, Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs and Executive Yuan, South Korea’s PIPC, Czechia’s NÚKIB, the EDPB and Apple’s App Store listings.*\n\n## Frequently asked questions\n\n### Is DeepSeek banned in the US?\n\nOnly on government systems. A Department of Homeland Security order published on October 20, 2026 bans DeepSeek and tools built on it from federal civilian agencies, and many states, including Texas, New York and Virginia, ban it on state devices. Private individuals and companies can still use it legally.\n\n### Is it illegal to use DeepSeek?\n\nNot for ordinary users in almost every country. Italy blocks the app for the public, and many governments ban it on official devices, but no country has made it a crime for a private person to use DeepSeek.\n\n### Which countries have banned DeepSeek?\n\nItaly is the only country that blocks the app for the public. The US, Australia, Taiwan, Czechia and Belgium ban it on government devices, and Canada, South Korea, the Netherlands and India restrict it in parts of government.\n\n### Is DeepSeek banned in the UK?\n\nNo. The government has called using DeepSeek a personal choice. Civil servants can’t use consumer AI tools, including DeepSeek, for official work unless their department approves them, and the DWP bans DeepSeek on its devices by name. The iPhone app is listed in the UK as “DSeek - Your AI Assistant”.\n\n### Is DeepSeek banned in India?\n\nNo. DeepSeek works normally in India. The Finance Ministry told its staff in January 2025 to avoid AI apps such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek on office devices, but there is no ban for the public.\n\n### Is DeepSeek banned in Australia?\n\nOnly on government systems. Australia’s federal government banned DeepSeek on all government systems and devices on February 4, 2025, and most states did the same. The public can still use it.\n\n### Why is DeepSeek banned in Italy?\n\nItaly’s data protection authority ordered DeepSeek to stop processing Italians’ data on January 30, 2025, after it judged the company’s answers about what data it collects and where it stores it to be insufficient, and the company said EU privacy law didn’t apply to it. The app has been unavailable in Italian app stores since.\n\n### Is DeepSeek safe to use?\n\nIt depends on what you share. DeepSeek’s privacy policy says it stores users’ data in China, which is why governments ban it on official devices. Avoid typing anything confidential into the app. Running DeepSeek’s open models on your own computer or through a US or European host keeps your prompts away from DeepSeek’s servers.\n\n*Sources: [US Department of Homeland Security, Exclusion and Removal Order 2026-01 (Federal Register, October 20, 2026)](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/20/2026-21447/notice-of-order-regarding-exclusion-and-removal-of-deepseek-products-from-federal-civilian-executive); [Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, order of January 30, 2025](https://www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/10098477); [AGCM, case PS12942](https://en.agcm.it/dotcmsdoc/pressrelease/PS12942_acc.%20imp.+chius..pdf); [Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection](https://www.datenschutz-berlin.de/pressemitteilung/berliner-datenschutzbeauftragte-meldet-ki-app-deepseek-in-deutschland-bei-apple-und-google-als-rechtswidrigen-inhalt/) and [2025 annual report](https://www.datenschutz-berlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/jahresbericht/BlnBDI_Jahresbericht-2025.pdf); [UK Parliament, HL4479](https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-01-28/HL4479) and [5298](https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-06-01/5298); [DWP acceptable use policy](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-procurement-security-policies-and-standards/acceptable-use-policy); [Australian Department of Home Affairs, PSPF Direction 001-2025](https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/foi/files/2026/fa-251200223-document-released.PDF); [Taiwan Ministry of Digital Affairs](https://moda.gov.tw/press/press-releases/15104); [South Korea PIPC](https://www.pipc.go.kr/np/cop/bbs/selectBoardArticle.do?bbsId=BS074&mCode=C020010000&nttId=11007); [NÚKIB](https://nukib.gov.cz/download/publikace/podpurne_materialy/Metodicky%20material%20k%20usneseni_DeepSeek.pdf); [DeepSeek privacy policy](https://cdn.deepseek.com/policies/en-US/deepseek-privacy-policy.html); Reuters (India), CBC (Canada), VRT (Belgium) and NOS (Netherlands).*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-deepseek-banned-every-country-and-us-state-that-bans-it-and-where-you-can-use", "canonical_source": "https://madrobot.blog/2026/10/20/is-deepseek-banned-countries-us-uk-india-australia-canada/", "published_at": "2026-10-20 08:47:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-20 09:19:40.056975+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["DeepSeek", "US Department of Homeland Security", "Markwayne Mullin", "Federal Register", "Italy", "Australia", "Taiwan", "Canada"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-deepseek-banned-every-country-and-us-state-that-bans-it-and-where-you-can-use", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-deepseek-banned-every-country-and-us-state-that-bans-it-and-where-you-can-use.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-deepseek-banned-every-country-and-us-state-that-bans-it-and-where-you-can-use.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-deepseek-banned-every-country-and-us-state-that-bans-it-and-where-you-can-use.jsonld"}}