South Korea claims DeepSeek transferred data to 3rd party

ISLAMABAD

South Korea on Tuesday claimed that a China-based artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek sent the nation’s user data to a third party, local media reported.

South Korea's data protection regulator said that DeepSeek sent the nation's user data to Chinese-owned popular video-sharing app TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

"We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance," the agency quoted the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) official as saying.

The latest claim from a PIPC official came a day after South Korea suspended new downloads of DeepSeek over concerns about its data collection practices.

Previously, several South Korean government ministries and agencies blocked internal access to the AI service amid concerns about its "data management practices."

Last month, the commission formally sought clarification on DeepSeek's data collection and management methods.

DeepSeek has since assigned a representative in South Korea and acknowledged shortcomings in considering the country’s privacy laws while also expressing its will to cooperate with the commission, according to South Korean officials.

The Chinese startup DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the AI industry last month with its cost-effective and free chatbot due to its rapid progress in rivaling US-based OpenAI’s ChatGPT with far fewer resources.

DeepSeek gained unprecedented popularity in mobile app stores across the globe, dethroning ChatGPT in certain regions, including the US.