South Korea data authority: DeepSeek transferred user data without consent

As previously reported, several European countries are concerned that the Chinese-made DeepSeek chatbot is collecting sensitive data about users without their consent.

Now, Reuters reports that South Korea is also investigating the issue, after previously blocking access to the app in the country.

According to South Korea’s data protection authority, DeepSeek passed on user data to a number of different Chinese companies before the app was blocked — and both user data and the content of users’ prompts were sent to Volcano Engine Technology, a company based in Beijing.

DeepSeek has defended itself by saying that the data was passed on to improve the user experience, but this explanation is not accepted by South Korea’s data protection authority. The Chinese company also says it stopped forwarding the content starting April 10.

DeepSeek is now being asked to immediately delete the data collected from South Korean users.