After being removed in South Korea over data security concerns, the country’s officials have accused DeepSeek of sharing user information with TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance.
DeepSeek has been accused of sharing user data with TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance by South Korea.
The Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) model was recently removed from app stores in South Korea over data security concerns, and now the country’s officials have claimed the software has been relaying user information to TikTok’s parent company.
The South Korean data protection regulator told Yonhap News Agency: “We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance.”
Even so, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) added that while a link between DeepSeek and ByteDance had been found, the organisation was “yet to confirm what data was transferred and to what extent”.
DeepSeek took the AI industry by storm when it launched on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store last month, with roughly one million users downloading the software in South Korea before it was pulled from the online marketplaces last Saturday (15.02.25).
Even though the AI model was removed from South Korea’s App Store and Play Store, existing users can still access the DeepSeek app and use it on a web browser.
After its launch, DeepSeek spooked AI investors as it could seemingly rival U.S. models like ChatGPT at a fraction of the cost, but Google’s DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis insisted there is “no actual new scientific advance” with the Chinese software.
Business Insider quoted him as saying: “I mean, just briefly, on DeepSeek, it’s an impressive piece of work, and I think it’s probably the best work I’ve seen come out of China.
“But it’s important to understand that despite the hype, there’s no actual new scientific advance there. It’s using known techniques.
“Actually, many of the techniques we invented at Google and at DeepMind.”
DeepSeek accused of sharing user data with Chinese TikTok owner ByteDance
