Norwegian parliament bans Chinese chatbot DeepSeek over security concerns
Norwegian parliament Stortinget banned DeepSeek, a Chinese AI chatbot, from devices with access to parliamentary systems following a security warning from Norway's national security authority. Denmark's parliament subsequently recommended against using DeepSeek on government devices, citing concerns about data collection and protection of confidential information.
What happened
Stortinget (Norwegian parliament) banned the use of Chinese chatbot DeepSeek on phones, tablets and computers with access to the parliament's systems.
The ban followed a warning from NSM (Norges nasjonale sikkerhedsmyndighed), Norway's national security authority, which advised Norwegian businesses against allowing DeepSeek on IT equipment with access to work-related systems.
Stortinget's administration stated the ban aimed to protect sensitive personal information and maintain high security. The administration also noted no security breaches related to Stortinget information through app use on devices with access to the parliament's systems had been discovered.
Reported impact
DeepSeek would no longer be accessible on devices with access to parliamentary systems, including devices where the application was already installed.
The Danish parliament (Folketinget) subsequently recommended that its members, staff and party employees not use DeepSeek on devices issued by Folketinget, citing a precautionary principle and concerns that using the technology could feed confidential content to the Chinese application.
Index analysis
Concerns centered on how DeepSeek collects and uses personal information from users. NSM's warning to Norwegian businesses reflected broader security concerns about Chinese AI systems accessing work-related data and parliamentary systems.
Governance controls
Stortinget's administration issued a formal ban prohibiting DeepSeek on all parliamentary devices with system access and mandating removal from already-installed instances.
Folketinget implemented a recommendation based on precautionary principles and advice from the Center for Cybersecurity under the Defence Intelligence Service (FE) regarding data protection on government devices.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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