In a media briefing held Monday, the South Korean Personal Information Protection Commission indicated that it had paused new downloads throughout the nation of Chinese language AI startup DeepSeek’s cellular app. The restriction took impact on Saturday and would not have an effect on South Korean customers who have already got the app put in on their gadgets. The DeepSeek service additionally stays accessible in South Korea through the net.

Per Reuters, PIPC defined that representatives from DeepSeek acknowledged the corporate had “partially uncared for” a few of its obligations beneath South Korea’s information safety legal guidelines, which offer South Koreans a number of the strictest privacy protections globally.

PIPC investigation division director Nam Seok is quoted by the Associated Press as saying DeepSeek “lacked transparency about third-party information transfers and probably collected extreme private data.” DeepSeek reportedly has dispatched a consultant to South Korea to work via any points and convey the app into compliance.

It is unclear how lengthy the app will stay unavailable in South Korea, with PIPC saying solely that the privateness points it recognized with the app would possibly take “a substantial period of time” to resolve.

Western infosec sources have additionally expressed dissatisfaction with features of DeepSeek’s safety. Cellular safety firm NowSecure reported two weeks in the past that the app sends information unencrypted to servers situated in China and managed by TikTok proprietor ByteDance; the week earlier than that, one other safety firm discovered an open, web-accessible database crammed with DeepSeek customer chat history and different delicate information.

Ars tried to ask DeepSeek’s DeepThink (R1) mannequin concerning the Tiananmen Sq. bloodbath or its favourite “Winnie the Pooh” film, however the LLM continued to have no comment.