South Korea says DeepSeek sent data to ByteDance owned servers in China without consent

DeepSeek previously said it overlooked data protection laws when transferring input to a Beijing-based cloud service platform owned by ByteDance, the parent of TikTok

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People watch a TV report on DeepSeek, during a news programme in Seoul, South Korea. A probe found that DeepSeek data sent to a Chinese server without consent. Photo: AP

Published: 5:33pm, 24 Apr 2025Updated: 4:22pm, 25 Apr 2025

Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek was transferring personal data to a cloud services platform without users’ consent while it was still available for download, South Korea’s data protection authority said on Thursday.

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said the information, which included device, network and user inputs in artificial intelligence (AI) prompts, was transferred to servers at Beijing platform Volcano Engine.

DeepSeek’s R1 chatbot stunned investors and industry insiders in January with its ability to match the functions of its Western competitors at a fraction of the cost.

However, countries including South Korea, Italy and Australia and some US states have questioned DeepSeek’s storage of user data and have banned or restricted its use.

The PIPC launched an investigation in February and said DeepSeek would no longer be available for download until a review of its personal data collection practices was completed.

“Initially, DeepSeek transferred personal data to companies located in China and the United States without obtaining users’ consent or disclosing this in the privacy policy at the time the service was launched,” commission official Nam Seok told reporters.

“In particular, it was confirmed that DeepSeek transferred not only device, network, and app information, but also user inputs in AI prompts to Volcano Engine,” he said.