Since its launch in late January 2025, Deepseek R1 has attracted considerable attention. Its potential and the cost involved in reaching it have stunned many.
But, the list of Deeseek AI-banned countries is growing rapidly amidst the various safety and privacy concerns of governments that this China-based AI model raises.
With growing cyber attacks on the Deepseek AI model and data collection methods, some countries have decided not to allow the use of the latest AI sensation by their government agencies or the general public.
Let’s know which countries have restricted and banned the usage of the Deepseek AI models and the reasons.
Which Countries Have Banned DeepSeek?
Italy banned DeepSeek first, followed by other 6 countries, including states in the US, Australia, South Korea, etc. The complete DeepSeek banned countries include:
- Italy
- USA
- South Korea
- Australia
- Taiwan
- India
Even before it completes one month of launching, the Deepseek R1 has faced significant backlash from 6 countries, refusing to utilize the Deepseek model even after its praise and attention.
Deepseek AI-banned countries are global, with more and more countries considering the security aspect of using Deepseek AI for the population.
Why Are Countries Banning Deepseek?
While the reasons for banning are common, it is not just because the AI model is a Chinese-developed AI model. There are more concerns due to which countries have banned using Deepseek AI.
1. Italy
One of the firsts to ban Deepseek and the Italian DPA is awaiting a response to their concerns sent to Deepseek related to data collected and how it is used.
2. USA
Ever since President Donald Trump’s speech stating that the rise of Deepseek is a wake-up call for tech companies in the US, there have been many to follow a ban on using Deepseek in the country, especially government employees. governmental bodies
Pentagon – After a few staff accessed Deepseek AI without authorization, Pentagon officials blocked the usage of the AI model.
NASA – On January 31st, NASA banned the AI model from its system and employee devices, citing concerns related to model origin usage that may hamper data security.
US Navy – The US Navy sent an email to its service members not to use Deepseek in any way. The email stated that the service members should not download, install, or use Deepseek in any capacity.
US Congress – The U.S. congressional offices have warned against the use of Deepseek until the technology is under review. The official staff has been banned from installing and using Deepseek from any official device.
Texas – The first US state to ban Deepseek was Texas and other apps from the Republic of China.
3. South Korea
Similar to Italy, South Korea has demanded additional details about the data usage from Deepseek.
South Korea has generally advised against using AI services for government agencies. It has banned the usage of Chinese AI from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.
4. Australia
The Australian government has mandated all government employees not to use any of the Deepseek-related products via mobile apps or websites.
5. Taiwan
Concerned with cross-border information leakage, Taiwan has also banned the use of Deepseek by government agencies, state-owned enterprises, and even public schools.
6. India
India’s Ministry of Finance has recently added to the list of countries banning the use of Deepseek by its government employees.
To add more oil to the fire, a recent ABC news report suggests that while the exact details of data usage are awaited, the Deepseek AI has hidden programming that can send you data across borders.
What Information Does Deepseek Collect
Taking a look at the official Deepseek privacy policy, the major concerns that support the decision of Deepseek AI banned countries are listed below:
- Information you provide – Profile information, user input, information upon contact
- Automatically collected information – Your device model, operating system, keystroke patterns or rhythms, IP address, system language, cookies,
- Information from other sources – Log in, sign up with third-party services, website activity, apps, stores, products, and services purchased online or in-person.
While some of these practices might be common even with some US-based AI models, the fact that the AI is China-based and there is yet to be a clear picture of how the data is used is a major concern here.
Read more about the Deepseek Privacy Policy here.
How Can You Use Deepseek In Banned Countries?
Even with the ban from these countries, Deepseek still sees about 100,776 visitors daily on its website.
As quickly as countries banned the usage of Deepseek AI, there were solutions for enthusiasts who are solely interested in the technology that it works on and its impressive performance.
One of the fastest-growing startups in the world – Perplexity AI used the open-source Deepseek R1 model and integrated it for its users to use without worrying about safety concerns.
According to Perplexity, the servers with access to Deepseek R1 offers are based out of the USA and EU and do not send any user data to China.
DeepSeek on Perplexity is hosted in 🇺🇸US/🇪🇺EU data centers – your data never leaves Western servers. The open source model is hosted completely independent of China. Your privacy and data security is our priority.
— Perplexity (@perplexity_ai) January 27, 2025
This also solves the common problem of the Deepseek server being busy and also provides an uncensored way of using Deepseek R1 to test its true potential.
Is Deepseek Better Than ChatGPT?
Deepseek took only $6 million to build instead of OpenAI spending $100M+ on building ChatGPT. Regarding architecture, the Deepseek R1 model offers an open-source model that is different from ChatGPT.
The API pricing for the Deepseek model is also less than ChatGPT. The Deepseek R1 model provides a better user experience with advanced reasoning for sharing an answer to any prompt.
A recent comparison of Deepseek vs ChatGPT found that the Deepseek R1 model provides results equal to those of the $20/month ChatGPT Plus subscription.
The Deepseek model is built using “Reinforced Learning,” which allows the model to learn things independently without bias. This provides a better option for developers who wish to create an exclusive service-based AI model than ChatGPT, which offers pre-trained AI models.
Conclusion: Deepseek AI Is Banned By 6 Countries
The governments of these six countries have banned Deepseek AI across the country or within their agencies to safeguard critical data about their country that may harm the country and its users in any way.
While we await more updates on the data usage practices followed by the Deepseek model, it has gotten itself on the radar of many, and we may expect more countries to join the six countries banning Deepseek AI.
