South Korea’s Data Protection Watchdog said Deepseek has moved its data to a Beijing-based “affiliate.”
The South Korean Data Protection Agency said on April 24 that Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek had transferred user data to several companies in China and the US without consent.
PIPC said DeepSeek did not obtain user consent prior to transferring data abroad and did not disclose this practice in its processing policy. The company’s lawsuit violates South Korea’s regulations, which require companies operating domestically to obtain consent from users before handing over personal data to third parties.
The number of US and Chinese companies that Deepseek allegedly transferred data remains unknown.
DeepSeek said it had transferred information from user-entered AI prompts and device, network and app information to China’s cloud services platform Beijing Volcanic Engine Technology before being suspended from the Korean app store in February.
PIPC has identified Beijing Volcanic Engine Technology as an “affiliate” for Bytedance, the parent company of Tiktok, but said it was “a separate corporation and has nothing to do with the ordinance.”
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The Epoch Times reached out to both Deep Sheikh and Beete Dance for comments and did not receive a response per publication time.
Deepseek told regulators that it used “security vulnerabilities” and cloud services from Chinese companies to improve the “security vulnerabilities” and user experience, but ultimately blocked the transfer of AI prompt data, according to PIPC research.
Deepseek also refused to collect personal information from users under the age of 14. However, PIPC has discovered that there is no procedure to verify the age of users signed up. The Chinese startup then created an age verification procedure in response to the security review.
PIPC said it would issue a corrective recommendation for DeepSeek.
Deepseek also needs to forward user-input AI prompts to Beijing Volcanic Engine Technology already to enhance transparency in its services, PIPC said.
Both Deepseek and Tiktok face scrutiny on national security concerns related to China’s ownership. Tiktok faces a federal US ban that will take effect unless Chinese parent Bytedance sells its social media platform. Meanwhile, many countries and several US government agencies are blocking DeepSeek from government equipment.
The launch of DeepSeek in January, a free, open source AI model, sparked global data privacy concerns. The app is controlled by Hangzhou Deepseek Artificial Intelligence and Beijing Deepseek Artificial Intelligence, according to the Privacy Policy web page.
Under Beijing’s counter-law, Chinese companies will need to hand over user data if requested by Chinese Communist Party authorities.
