“DeepSeek Phobia” Spreads Across Countries
The U.S. Congress is moving forward with legislation to ban the use of Chinese startup DeepSeek’s AI chatbot service app on U.S. government devices. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 6th (local time), Representatives Darin LaHood (Republican-Illinois) and Josh Gottheimer (Democrat-New Jersey) from the House Intelligence Committee are expected to introduce a bill to this effect soon.
LaHood and Gottheimer argue that similar access restrictions applied to TikTok should also be applied to DeepSeek’s chatbot. Previously, in 2022, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation prohibiting the use of Chinese company ByteDance’s video-sharing app “TikTok” on government devices, due to concerns about sensitive user information potentially leaking to the Chinese government.
Representative Gottheimer emphasized, “It’s perfectly reasonable to take immediate action to prevent hostile countries from obtaining our government’s information.” There have been allegations that the DeepSeek model contains hidden code that transmits user information to China Mobile, a state-owned Chinese telecommunications company. According to ABC News, Ivan Charinni, CEO of Ontario, California-based cybersecurity firm Perute Security, claimed that by decrypting DeepSeek’s code using AI software, hidden elements were discovered.
Countries, including South Korea, are moving to block access to DeepSeek. South Korean government departments have already restricted access to DeepSeek from computers with external internet access. Australia, Italy, and others have also banned the use of DeepSeek on government-owned devices. In the U.S., some federal agencies like the Navy and NASA have already blocked access to DeepSeek. The state of Texas has also restricted access at the state government level, according to the WSJ.