Description: South Korea’s government has suspended the use of the Chinese AI – based application DeepSeek citing severe privacy policy concerns. The ban came as government and regulatory bodies in South Korea determined stipulations in DeepSeek’s user manual not to be in line with privacy laws in South Korea. The country joins the US which has recently banned the usage of DeepSeek on government issued devices also citing privacy concerns. Recent research also indicated that DeepSeek has learned to collect data from its users which ended up on Chinese data farms ultimately owned by the Chinese Ministry of Defense.
Impact: The application that disrupted the tech market continues to get banned by several governments as it has recently been exposed as a data collection tool for the Chinese government. China initially attempted to shield itself from the allegations but ultimately evidence collected by think tanks showed the app to have been used by the Chinese Ministry of Defense. DeepSeek’s addition to the market, although impactful at the beginning, is starting to plummet. China would continue to leverage its hyperproduction capabilities in the digital sector to remain competitive on the rapidly developing AI market. Ever since the DeepSeek developing and funding myth was debunked, skepticism over Chinese developed applications could severely impact the digital sector which could put China on the backfoot in the unfolding trade war with the US.