(Matussek, Karin; Bloomberg) A leading German privacy regulator has warned Apple Inc. and Google’s Android that the Chinese AI service DeepSeek, which is accessible through their app stores, is unlawful material since it gives Chinese authorities access to user data.
According to a statement released on Friday by Berlin data protection commissioner Meike Kamp, the official notification follows DeepSeek’s disregard for a May order to either remove its program from German app stores or implement safeguards while gathering local user data and sending it to China.
According to Kamp, Chinese authorities have extensive access rights to personal information. Users of DeepSeek are not afforded the same effective legal remedies and enforceable rights in China as they are in the EU.
In January, the Chinese startup DeepSeek, located in Hangzhou, stunned the world of technology with its R1 large language model, which it said could compete with far larger US systems at a fraction of the price.
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The Berlin agency cited a clause of the EU’s Digital Services Act, which places the responsibility for removing unlawful content from tech platforms like Apple and Google, after the Chinese app disregarded pleas to comply.
Now, Kamp said, they both need to quickly go over the notification and determine how to comply. DeepSeek might have also been penalized by the regulator, but Kamp chose not to since she couldn’t enforce the fine in China.
Apple chose not to respond. Emails asking for comments were not immediately answered by DeepSeek or Google.
The German action comes after Italy’s privacy regulator took a similar action in January.
with the help of Gian Volpicelli.
(Responses and updates are in the second-last paragraph.)
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Bloomberg L.P., 2025.
