Taiwan Bans Use Of DeepSek In Government Agencies Due To Security Concerns

Several countries are investigating the use of personal data by DeepSek. (photo: x @deepseek_ai)

JAKARTA Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs on Friday, January 31, announced that government agencies are not allowed to use artificial intelligence (AI) services from Chinese startup DeepSeek, arguing that the product poses a threat to information security.

Democratically-ruled Taiwan has long been wary of technology from China, given Beijing's claim to sovereignty over the island as well as military and political threats to the government in Taipei.

In a statement, Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs said that this ban was implemented to prevent the risk of information security.

"The DeepSeek AI service is a Chinese product, and its operations involve cross-border transmission and potential information leakage, thus becoming a product that endangers the security of state information," the ministry said.

The ministry also emphasized that it will continue to monitor the development of related technology and make adjustments to information security policies on time to maintain national security.

Earlier on Friday, South Korea's information privacy watchdog announced its plans to ask for clarification from DeepSek on how users' personal data is managed. Authorities in France, Italy, Ireland, and several other countries are also investigating the use of personal data by DeepSek.

Meanwhile, on Monday 27 January, DeepSek's free AI assistant has surpassed US rival ChatGPT in the number of downloads from Apple's App Store. The incident coincided with the massive sell-off of global investors against US tech stocks, which caused the market value of chipmaker Nvidia to drop to $593 billion in one day's biggest loss in Wall Street history to a single company.