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Another Country Bans DeepSeek on Government Devices After US, Italy, and Taiwan

DeepSeek's launch last month sent shockwaves through the global tech industry, as its AI models reportedly cost significantly less and require less powerful chips than those of its competitors.

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Another Country Bans DeepSeek on Government Devices After US, Italy, and Taiwan

DeepSeek has been banned in yet another country. Following the U.S., Italy, and Taiwan, Australia has now prohibited the Chinese AI app from all government devices over security concerns.

According to a report by news agency Reuters, the country’s Department of Home Affairs issued a mandatory directive instructing all government entities to “prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services and where found remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services from all Australian Government systems and devices,” as stated in a government statement.

DeepSeek posed an  “unacceptable risk”

Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stated that DeepSeek posed an “unacceptable risk” to government technology, leading to an immediate ban “to protect Australia’s national security and national interest.” However, the ban applies only to government devices and does not extend to private citizens.

DeepSeek’s launch last month sent shockwaves through the global tech industry, as its AI models reportedly cost significantly less and require less powerful chips than those of its competitors. This raised concerns about the substantial investments Western nations have made in chipmakers and data centers.

Despite DeepSeek gaining attention for outperforming OpenAI at a lower cost, security concerns arose due to reports of user data being collected and stored in China. Chinese law requires all companies to share data with the government upon request, sparking fears over potential access to American user data.

Australia’s decision to ban DeepSeek follows a similar move by Italy, with other countries in Europe and beyond also reportedly scrutinizing the AI firm. Taiwan recently prohibited government departments from using DeepSeek as well.

This is not the first time Australia has restricted Chinese technology. Two years ago, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government imposed a nationwide ban on the use of the Chinese social media app TikTok on government devices over security concerns.

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