South Korea’s data protection agency has found that Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek collected personal data from users and transmitted it overseas without obtaining consent.
According to findings published by the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) following a privacy and security review of DeepSeek, the company transferred user prompts, as well as device and network information, to entities in China and the U.S. without user approval.
One of the recipients was Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co., a cloud service provider based in China.
Beijing Volcano Engine is described as separate from TikTok-owner ByteDance, though it was initially identified as an affiliate. DeepSeek told the PIPC it used the service to improve app performance and later stopped sending user prompts on April 10.
In response to its findings, the PIPC ordered DeepSeek to delete all AI prompts sent to the Chinese company and to set up legal protections for any future international data transfers. The app will remain off the market in South Korea until the company fixes its data practices.
The PIPC said DeepSeek “admitted to insufficiently considering Korea’s data protection laws” and “expressed its willingness to cooperate with the commission and voluntarily suspend new downloads.”
DeepSeek did not respond to a request for comment.
