DeepSeek blocked on Apple and Google app stores in Italy

By Elvira Pollina

MILAN (Reuters) -The Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek could not be accessed on Wednesday in Apple and Google app stores in Italy, the day after the country's data protection authority requested information on its use of personal data.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission said it had also requested information from DeepSeek about data processing in relation to Irish users.

DeepSeek last week launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. By Monday, the assistant had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple's App Store, sparking panic among tech stock investors.

"The news of the withdrawal of the app was only a few hours ago, I cannot say whether it is due to us or not," the head of the Italian data regulator, Pasquale Stanzione, was quoted as saying by news agency ANSA.

"Our office will launch an in-depth investigation to see if GDPR rules are being respected," Stanzione added, according to ANSA, referring to European Union data protection regulation.

The Italian regulator, known as the Garante, said on Tuesday it wanted to know what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis and whether it is stored in China. It gave DeepSeek and its affiliated companies 20 days to respond.

Stanzione also said the regulator was seeking reassurances on safeguarding for underage users of the app, on the avoidance of bias and avoiding electoral interference.

A notice displayed to Italian customers on Apple's App Store said the app was "currently not available in the country or area you are in". A message on the Google app platform said the download "was not supported" in Italy.

DeepSeek seemed to be still operational for Italian users who had previously downloaded the application, and was available for download and working on Wednesday in other European Union countries and in Britain.

In Germany, an interior ministry spokesperson said the government was monitoring AI applications for potential interference before the Feb. 23 national election.

"Of course, the security authorities are concerned with AI applications and possible manipulation, possible influence on the formation of public opinion through AI applications, especially now in view of the Bundestag elections," the spokesperson said, without naming any specific models.

Italy's Garante is one of Europe's most active watchdogs on the use of AI. Two years ago it briefly banned the use of Microsoft-backed ChatGPT over suspected breaches of EU privacy rules.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission is the lead EU regulator for most of the top U.S. internet firms due to the location of their EU operations in Ireland, but DeepSeek has not designated Ireland as its EU headquarters.

($1 = 0.9618 euros)

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina in Milan, Stefano Bernabei and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome, additional reporting by Conor Humphries in Dublin and Miranda Murray in Berlin, writing by Keith Weir, editing by Alvise Armellini, Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)