DeepSeek AI refuses to answer questions about June 4 Tiananmen Square
DeepSeek, a Chinese AI chatbot, refused to answer questions about June 4 and Tiananmen Square on the 36th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown. According to a U.S. House investigation, DeepSeek shares user data with the Chinese government and implements politically-motivated censorship that functions as the Chinese Communist Party's 'digital enforcer,' leading multiple governments to ban or restrict its use.
What happened
DeepSeek, a Chinese AI chatbot, refused to answer user questions about the date June 4 and questions related to Tiananmen Square. When users asked 'What is Tiananmen Square?' or 'What date is today?' on June 4, 2025, the system responded with 'Sorry, that's beyond my current scope. Let's talk about something else.'
In one instance, DeepSeek initially provided a factual response to a German-language question about Tiananmen Square that mentioned the 1989 military crackdown resulting in hundreds or thousands of deaths, but the response was then removed by the system's review mechanism and replaced with a refusal message.
Reported impact
Users criticized DeepSeek online for the refusal to provide basic information, with some stating the AI was 'not as good as a primary school student' for being unable to identify the current date.
According to a U.S. House report, DeepSeek shares American user data with the Chinese government and integrates user-tracking tools from ByteDance and Baidu. The censorship mechanism operates differently from other AI chatbots' content filtering and functions more like the Chinese Communist Party's 'digital enforcer.'
Index analysis
DeepSeek's content management incorporates censorship requirements aligned with Chinese Communist Party directives, including suppression of topics related to democracy, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The system appears designed to prevent discussion of sensitive political topics rather than filtering harmful content.
Governance controls
In response to security and censorship concerns, the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Texas state government, and Taiwan have banned DeepSeek. In Italy, DeepSeek was removed from Apple and Google app stores. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and India are conducting reviews of the risks posed by DeepSeek.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.