Berlin's Data Protection and Freedom of Information Commissioner Maike Kamp has accused DeepSeek of violating European data protection laws.
The chatbot could be blocked in Google and Apple's app stores. Kamp sent a notice to companies that Berlin authorities consider DeepSeek to be “illegal material“. The companies must study the document “as soon as possible“ and decide whether to block the app. The reason for this requirement, according to the Ombudsman's office, is that users' personal data is sent to servers in China.
The office explains that since the application is available to users in Germany and also works with German, it must meet the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. According to the regulation, when transferring personal data to servers outside the European bloc, their protection must be guaranteed. In such cases, the EU must adopt a so-called “adequacy decision“ or the company must take other protective measures, the document says.
“DeepSeek's transfer of user data to China is unlawful. DeepSeek has failed to convincingly demonstrate to my office that user data in China is protected at the same level as in the European Union. In addition, users do not have effective legal mechanisms and legal aid that are guaranteed in the European Union. "I have therefore notified Google and Apple, as operators of the largest app stores, of the violations and expect a swift resolution to the blocking issue," the ministry quoted Kamp as saying.
The notification was sent in coordination with authorized representatives of three other German federal states. The office also requested information from the Federal Network Agency, which is responsible for implementing the General Data Protection Regulation in Germany.
On January 20, the Chinese company DeepSeek released a new version of the R1 chatbot, which is claimed to be better than the advanced versions of global competitors. At the same time, the developers of the Chinese chatbot indicate that they spent only $5.6 million and used outdated chips to train the model. The DeepSeek chatbot has quickly gained popularity among users around the world and has caused stock market volatility amid investor concerns that US AI leaders are overvalued.