After its global debut and rapid surge in popularity, China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot has faced critical scrutiny and restrictions from several countries. South Korea, for example, has banned new downloads of the app through both Apple’s App Store and Google Play due to concerns about compliance with personal data protection laws.

DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, has temporarily paused downloads of its chatbot apps in South Korea while it works with local authorities to address privacy concerns, South

South Korea has banned new downloads of China's DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, according to the country's personal data protection watchdog. The government agency said the AI model will become available again to South Korean users when "improvements and remedies" are made to ensure it complies with the country's personal data protection laws.