Berlin data protection authority wants to block Deepseek in app stores app

The Chinese Ki app Deepseek is to be blocked in the Apple and Google app. At least this is what the Berlin representative for data protection and freedom of information and has reported the app as illegal content. The reason is that Deepseek transferred users’ personal data to China and do not ensure that the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are complied with.

Deepseek caused a sensation at the beginning of the year when the AI ​​chat bot presented itself as a cheaper and yet powerful alternative to models of US sizes Openai and Google.

Violation of the GDPR

The operator of Deepseek is the company Hangzhou Deepseek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd. With seat in Beijing. Deepseek has no branch in the European Union (EU). Nevertheless, the service is subject to the service of the GDPR because it is offered in Germany, As the Berlin authority announced.

The service processes extensive personal data from users, including text inputs, chat history and uploaded files as well as information on the location, used devices and networks. The collected data transmits the service to Chinese order processors and save it on servers in China.

“Deepseek has not convincingly demonstrated that data of German users: inside in China are protected at a level of equivalent in the European Union. Chinese authorities have extensive access to personal data in the area of ​​influence of Chinese companies. In addition, the users are not available to be enforceable rights and effective legal remedies in China, as they have in the European union are guaranteed, “said Berlin’s data protection officer Meike Kamp.

Slove instead of a fine

Usually violations of the GDPR are punished with fines. A block would be a novelty. The authority relies on the European Digital Services Act (DSA) in its approach. Apple and Google must now check the message promptly and decide on the implementation. The measure was carried out in close coordination with the state data protection officers of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, and according to the coordination office for digital services in the Federal Network Agency, which is responsible for the enforcement of the DSA in Germany.