Personal Information Protection Commission: "DeepSeeker App Temporarily Suspended... Service to Resume After Improvement and Supplementation"

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) announced on the 17th that the domestic service of the DeepSeek app has been temporarily suspended since 6 PM on the 15th, and that the service will resume after improvements and supplements are made in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act (Protection Act).



DeepSeek homepage. [Photo = DeepSeek homepage]



The Personal Information Commission immediately sent an official inquiry to DeepSeek headquarters regarding the personal information collection and processing method (1.31.) after the launch of the DeepSeek service and began its own analysis of the service.



According to the PIPC, the results of its own analysis confirmed some insufficient areas in the communication function with third-party businesses and the personal information processing policy that had been pointed out in domestic and foreign media outlets. After



designating a domestic agent on the 10th, DeepSeek announced on the 14th that it had neglected to consider domestic protection laws during the launch of its global service, and that it would actively cooperate with the PIPC in the future.



The Personal Information Protection Commission judged that it would inevitably take a considerable amount of time to rectify the DeepSeek service in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act, and therefore recommended that DeepSeek temporarily suspend the service and then make improvements and supplements to prevent further concerns from spreading. DeepSeek accepted this and decided to temporarily suspend the DeepSeek service in domestic app markets starting on the 15th.



In the future, the Personal Information Protection Commission plans to closely inspect the personal information processing status of the DeepSeek service during the service suspension period to improve it so that the Personal Information Protection Act is faithfully followed and so that our citizens' concerns about the protection of personal information are alleviated.



Last year, the Personal Information Protection Commission conducted a preliminary on-site inspection of major AI services such as OpenAI, Google, and MS (a total of 6 services) that took about 5 months, but this inspection is limited to one operator and is expected to proceed more quickly due to the accumulated experience and know-how so far.



During the on-site inspection process, the Commission plans to induce improvements so that the DeepSeek service meets the requirements of domestic personal information protection laws.



In particular, when announcing the final results, we will present a guide (in the form of a checklist, etc.) that overseas AI developers should check before launching their domestic services, while promoting legal revisions to the Protection Act to establish special provisions for AI and strengthen enforcement power for overseas businesses so that AI utilization and personal information protection can be balanced in the era of popularization of AI.



The Personal Information Protection Commission stated, "This temporary suspension of the DeepSeek app restricts downloads of new apps from the app market. We once again urge existing users to use it cautiously, such as by not entering personal information in the DeepSeek input window (prompt) until the final results are announced," and "We plan to also look into the status of processing and storage of personal information of existing users during the on-site inspection process, and plan to devise countermeasures if necessary."





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