DeepSeek Shared Data With TikTok’s Parent Company, South Korean Officials Say

The DeepSeek AI app was removed from South Korea’s app stores on Feb. 15 because of data privacy concerns.

The DeepSeek logo, in an illustration taken on Jan. 29, 2025. Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has shared data with the Beijing parent firm of the popular Chinese app TikTok, South Korean officials told The Epoch Times days after suspending the chatbot’s service in the country.

“There was data exchange with an IP address related to ByteDance,” an official from South Korea’s data protection regulator, the Personal Information Protection Commission, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 19.