German data protection commissioner Mark Kemp on the 27th asked Apple and Google to remove the Chinese start-up’s“Deep Seek” app in Germany, citing“Deep seek’s alleged violation of EU data protection laws”.
Data Map (Visual China)
Kamp accused DeepSeek of illegally transmitting personal data from users of the app to China and failed to prove that its German user data in the country was protected to the same extent as the EU’s, in violation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) . She also said Apple and Google must quickly review the request and decide whether to ban the app in Germany, without setting a time frame for doing so.
Kamp is responsible for overseeing and advising in the areas of data protection and freedom of information. The action against Apple and Google was co-ordinated by Kemp with data protection Baden-Württemberg in the state of Rhineland, the state of Pfalz and Bremen, according to TV1. Since DeepSeek has no European branch, it can only be managed by a local data protection agency.
Liu Gang, director of the Economic Research Institute at Nankai University and chief economist of China’s next-generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy Institute, told the Global Times on the 29th that the international community has always demanded that data be processed locally, in the case of large AI models, the data provided by the user is generally analyzed and the results are obtained, and there is no cross-border transfer of data.
If apple and Google follow the Data Protection Agency’s assessment, the app will be removed from their respective app stores, German media said. However, the German authorities had no power to force the US companies to remove DeepSeek from the App Store. Also, the browser version of DeepSeek will not be affected by the blockade.
“This is the first time this has happened,” the German weekly der Spiegel said, adding that the general data protection regulations imposed huge fines of up to 4 per cent of global revenues on operators of illegal services. Certain business practices may also be prohibited. The German Data Protection Agency asked companies to block DeepSeek from their app stores under the EU’s Digital Services Act, which is in effect administered by the federal Internet administration in Germany.
German television channel one also reported that authorities in Italy, South Korea and Australia were also investigating DeepSeek. The Italian Data Protection Agency is investigating whether the application violated the general data protection regulations. CHATGPT was 2023 banned because of a “Lack of child protection measures”. Earlier this year, South Korea suspended DeepSeek from downloading domestically, citing shortcomings in data protection. According to Korean media sources, at the end of April, DeepSeek resumed download service in Korea.
In response to news that some countries have banned or restricted the use of DeepSeek, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman has repeatedly said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to and protects data privacy and security according to law, companies or individuals have never been and will not be required to collect or store data in an illegal manner. China has always opposed the generalization of the concept of national security and the politicization of economic, trade, scientific and technological issues. We will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.
A Global Times staff member in Germany searched for DeepSeek on the Apple App Store Tuesday and it is still available for download.