Italy’s data protection authority announced, on Thursday, blocking the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek, citing concerns over a lack of transparency regarding its use of personal data, Reuters reported.
The app disappeared from Apple and Google app stores in Italy on Wednesday after Italy’s regulator, known as the Garante, requested details about DeepSeek’s data collection practices. Officials asked for specifics on what personal data the app gathers, its sources, the purpose of the collection, the legal basis for it, and whether the data is stored in China.
Authorities made the decision to block DeepSeek immediately after receiving what they described as “totally insufficient” information from the Chinese companies that supply the chatbot service. The Garante also launched an investigation into the matter.
The AI model recently introduced a free virtual assistant that it claims operates with lower data usage and at a fraction of the cost of rival services. Earlier this week, the assistant surpassed OpenAI’s ChatGPT in number of downloads from Apple’s app store.
Italy has taken an aggressive stance on data privacy, previously blocking OpenAI’s ChatGPT for similar reasons before allowing it back with restrictions.