Italian Regulator Blocks DeepSeek Over Personal Data Concerns

The Italian regulator said that DeepSeek’s response to its inquiry about the app’s data collection was insufficient.

The DeepSeek app on an iPhone screen in San Anselmo, Calif., on Jan. 27, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Italian data protection watchdog has blocked access to the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) application DeepSeek due to concerns over its handling of user data.

The independent regulator, Garante Privacy, said on Jan. 28 that it had asked DeepSeek about the personal data it collects, the sources of that data, and the purposes for which the data is collected.