South Korea suspends DeepSeek local service over data collection concerns
South Korea suspended DeepSeek's local service on 15 February 2025, citing concerns about the application's data collection practices and storage of user data on servers in China, which the government said violated personal information protection laws.
What happened
South Korea suspended DeepSeek's local service on 15 February 2025 due to concerns about the application's data collection system and storage of data on servers in China. The government cited discrepancies with the country's personal information protection laws and concerns about potential leakage of sensitive information.
Reported impact
The application's data collection practices and storage location raised concerns about compliance with South Korean data protection regulations.
Index analysis
DeepSeek's data collection and storage infrastructure, located in China, raised questions about compliance with local privacy laws and the security of user information.
Governance controls
South Korea announced the service would resume after 'improvements' in accordance with the country's personal information protection laws. Several South Korean government ministries had previously suspended access to DeepSeek from their computers.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.