The Italian Protection Data Authority, or Garante, has issued an order to Chinese AI startup DeepSeek to halt its activities in Italy. The announcement came on Thursday, following the company’s failure to address regulators’ concerns over its privacy policies.
DeepSeek has been the subject of increased scrutiny from Western regulators who express concerns that the company could misuse foreign data for espionage and other illicit activities. The Garante declared that the startup’s explanation of its data collection practices was “totally insufficient.”
In a surprising turn of events, the firms stated that they do not have operations in Italy, thus European regulations should not apply to them, a claim that contradicts the Garante’s findings. The data authority has now initiated an investigation into DeepSeek’s supposed activities in Italy.
DeepSeek, an AI chatbot, has been reported to be installed by over 10 million users globally via the Google Play Store. The company’s innovative and affordable technology is seen as a significant rival to Nvidia’s monopoly on the AI market, and a potential challenge to Silicon Valley’s dominance in artificial intelligence and Big Tech.
The fear of a potential Chinese AI resurgence has had a significant impact on the tech market. Just this week, a staggering $1 trillion was wiped off the NASDAQ 100, with Nvidia’s value dropping by $600 million in one day.
Global regulators and lawmakers are becoming increasingly apprehensive, particularly as questions surrounding DeepSeek’s privacy policies continue to go unanswered. France and South Korea have pledged to investigate DeepSeek’s data collection practices, and Irish watchdogs have also indicated their intention to question the company on its user data harvesting methods.
DeepSeek has informed the Italian authorities that it has withdrawn its AI assistant from local app stores but refutes the claim that they should be subject to Italian regulations. This was confirmed by Garante board member Agostino Ghiglia in an interview with Reuters. He stated, “Not only did DeepSeek’s response not give us any reassurance, it worsened their position, and that’s the reason we decided to order the block.”
Despite the block, DeepSeek remains operational for Italian users who had previously downloaded the app, and the web version of the service is still accessible in Italy.
The Garante has a track record of active data protection, as illustrated in 2023 when it ordered OpenAI to block its AI chatbot ChatGPT in Italy due to perceived breaches of EU data privacy rules. The data authority later fined OpenAI €15 million, after determining that the AI maker had improperly used users’ personal data to train its chatbot without obtaining “an adequate legal basis.”
