Australia has prohibited the use of DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence application, across all government devices, citing significant security risks. The Department of Home Affairs issued a directive mandating the removal of DeepSeek products from government systems and mobile devices by Wednesday.
“After considering threat and risk analysis, I have determined that the use of DeepSeek products, applications, and web services poses an unacceptable level of security risk to the Australian Government,” stated Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster in the directive.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke emphasized the government’s responsibility to act against identified national security threats. “The immediate ban is aimed at protecting the national interest,” he said.
This action aligns Australia with other nations expressing apprehension about DeepSeek’s data practices. Countries including Italy, Taiwan, and various U.S. government entities, such as the Pentagon and NASA, have also restricted the AI application due to concerns over data security and potential foreign interference.
DeepSeek recently claimed that its new R1 chatbot matches the capacity of leading U.S. artificial intelligence systems at a fraction of the cost, raising global scrutiny. Critics argue that DeepSeek’s data collection practices, which involve storing user data on servers in China, pose severe privacy risks, especially for high-stakes tasks.
The Australian government clarified that this ban does not extend to devices owned by private citizens. However, the move reflects growing global scrutiny and restriction of DeepSeek’s operations.
This decision follows Australia’s previous ban on the Chinese social media app TikTok from government devices two years ago, citing similar security concerns.