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Monday, February 10, 2025

DeepSeek Blocked on App Store, Google Play Store in Italy


The Chinese synthetic intelligence app DeepSeek couldn’t be accessed on Wednesday in Apple and Google app shops in Italy, the day after the nation’s information safety authority requested info on its use of private information.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission mentioned it had additionally requested info from DeepSeek about information processing in relation to Irish customers.

DeepSeek final week launched a free AI assistant that it says makes use of much less information at a fraction of the price of incumbent companies. By Monday, the assistant had overtaken US rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store, sparking panic amongst tech inventory buyers.

“The information of the withdrawal of the app was just a few hours in the past, I can not say whether or not it is because of us or not,” the top of the Italian information regulator, Pasquale Stanzione, was quoted as saying by information company ANSA.

“Our workplace will launch an in-depth investigation to see if GDPR guidelines are being revered,” Stanzione added, based on ANSA, referring to European Union information safety regulation.

The Italian regulator, often known as the Garante, mentioned on Tuesday it needed to know what private information is collected, from which sources, for what functions, on what authorized foundation and whether or not it’s saved in China. It gave DeepSeek and its affiliated corporations 20 days to reply.

Stanzione additionally mentioned the regulator was looking for reassurances on safeguarding for underage customers of the app, on the avoidance of bias and avoiding electoral interference.

A discover exhibited to Italian clients on Apple’s App Store mentioned the app was “at the moment not out there within the nation or space you might be in”. A message on the Google app platform mentioned the obtain “was not supported” in Italy.

DeepSeek appeared to be nonetheless operational for Italian customers who had beforehand downloaded the applying, and was out there for obtain and dealing on Wednesday in different European Union international locations and in Britain.

In Germany, an inside ministry spokesperson mentioned the federal government was monitoring AI purposes for potential interference earlier than the February 23 nationwide election.

“Of course, the safety authorities are involved with AI purposes and attainable manipulation, attainable affect on the formation of public opinion by means of AI purposes, particularly now in view of the Bundestag elections,” the spokesperson mentioned, with out naming any particular fashions.

Italy’s Garante is one in all Europe’s most energetic watchdogs on the usage of AI. Two years in the past it briefly banned the usage of Microsoft-backed ChatGPT over suspected breaches of EU privateness guidelines.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is the lead EU regulator for many of the high U.S. web corporations because of the location of their EU operations in Ireland, however DeepSeek has not designated Ireland as its EU headquarters.

© Thomson Reuters 2025

(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)



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