South Korean authorities said today that the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) app DeepSeek sent data from South Korean users to ByteDance, owner of the popular social network TikTok, also of Chinese origin.
It is the first time a national regulator has confirmed the potential leak of DeepSeek user data to third parties, according to South Korean media, and comes after South Korea joined other countries a day earlier in banning the use of the Chinese AI app due to its security risks.
South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has confirmed warnings from some cybersecurity experts that DeepSeek could transfer personal data to other entities without users' consent.
"We have confirmed that DeepSeek has communicated with ByteDance," a PIPC spokesperson was quoted as saying by local news agency Yonhap, noting that the regulator still needs to verify what kind of data was transferred to the TikTok owner and on what scale.
South Korean law requires operators to have explicit consent from users to transfer their data to third parties.
South Korea on Monday announced it was removing DeepSeek from local app stores as it investigates how the Chinese company manages user data.
The PIPC also issued an official warning about the Chinese AI model, advising against its use, and local government ministries and agencies blocking it.
The PIPC advised against using the Chinese AI model. Local government ministries and agencies blocked it.
Previously, local companies such as South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor had already restricted their employees' access to DeepSeek, also due to possible leaks of their data.
South Korea's finance and environment ministries announced two weeks ago that they were blocking DeepSeek, at least temporarily, joining the ministries of foreign affairs, national defense and economy, trade and industry, which have blocked access to the model from their terminals.
The Ministry of the Interior had already recommended to the ministries and the country's 17 regional governments that they take precautions against possible data leaks through the use of DeepSeek, given what it considers to be a non-transparent data storage process by the Chinese company.
DeepSeek has revolutionized the global AI landscape after the unveiling last month of its latest language model, which impressed experts with its more efficient and cost-effective performance compared to its US competitors.
However, its data management has led other countries, such as Italy and Australia, to review the service and impose access restrictions on public institutions, citing risks to national security.
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