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South Korea has accused Chinese AI startup DeepSeek of sharing user data with the owner of TikTok in China.<\/p>\n
“We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance,” the South Korean data protection regulator told Yonhap News Agency.<\/a><\/p>\n The country had already removed DeepSeek from app stores<\/a> over the weekend over data protection concerns.<\/p>\n The Chinese app caused shockwaves<\/a> in the AI world in January, wiping billions off global stock markets over claims its new model was trained at a much lower cost than US rivals such as ChatGPT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since then, multiple countries have warned that user data may not be properly protected, and in February a US cybersecurity company alleged potential data sharing<\/a> between DeepSeek and ByteDance.<\/p>\n DeepSeek’s apparent overnight impact saw it shoot to the top of App Store charts in the UK, US and many other countries around the world – although it now sits far below ChatGPT in UK rankings.<\/p>\n In South Korea, it had been downloaded over a million times before being pulled from Apple and Google’s App Stores on Saturday evening. <\/p>\n Existing users can still access the app and use it on a web browser.<\/p>\n The data regulator, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency that despite finding a link between DeepSeek and ByteDance, it was “yet to confirm what data was transferred and to what extent”.<\/p>\n Critics of the Chinese state have long argued its National Intelligence Law allows the government<\/a> to access any data it wants from Chinese companies.<\/p>\n However, ByteDance, headquartered in Beijing, is owned by a number of global investors – and others say<\/a> the same law allows for the protection of private companies and personal data.<\/p>\n Fears over user data being sent to China was one of the reasons the US Supreme Court upheld a ban on TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance. <\/p>\n The US ban is on hold until 5 April<\/a> as President Donald Trump attempts to broker a resolution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cybersecurity company Security Scorecard published a blog<\/a> on DeepSeek on 10 February which suggested “multiple direct references to ByteDance-owned” services.<\/p>\n “These references suggest deep integration with ByteDance’s analytics and performance monitoring infrastructure,” it said in its review of DeepSeek’s Android app.<\/p>\n Security Scorecard expressed concern that along with privacy risks, DeepSeek “user behaviour and device metadata [are] likely sent to ByteDance servers”.<\/p>\n It also found data “being transmitted to domains linked to Chinese state-owned entities”.<\/p>\n