Italy Blocks Chinese Chatbot DeepSeek

The Italian regulator has blocked a Chinese application with integrated expert system DeepSeek.

This was reported by the regional regulator Garante.

The emergency order entered impact right away to secure the personal data of Italians.

The decision comes two days after Italy sent out a request about how DeepSeek utilizes users’ individual information. The local regulator asked what information is gathered, why, and whether it is stored in China. However, the Chinese company’s response was considered “totally insufficient”. They stated they do not operate in Italy and that European law does not apply to them.

The DeepSeek app has been missing from digital shops in Italy considering that January 29. The web variation, however, stayed available – and it is still available today.

The Italian newspaper la Repubblica writes that the main page of DeepSeek states that usersʼ personal information is kept on servers in China, the material of chats with the bot can be utilized to train its algorithms, and the service needs to not be used by children under 14. However, the Italian regulator asked for additional details, which it did not get.

What is DeepSeek?

On January 27, DeepSeek overtook ChatGPT to become the most popular totally free app on the App Store. On the exact same day, the Chinese chatbot underwent a large-scale cyberattack.

DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, a 40-year-old graduate of the School of Information and Electronic Engineering. He established a shop for Nvidia A100 chips, which are now prohibited from being to China. Media reports recommend that this may have prompted him to release DeepSeek, integrating those chips with more affordable, lower-end ones that are still available for import.

DeepSeek is based on the open-source DeepSeek-V3 model. Some experts state that the design was established for less than $6 million – competitors invest a lot more. However, other experts dispute this details.