The DeepSeek page is displayed on a computer screen in Seoul, Feb. 6. Newsis
Korea's data protection regulator has confirmed that the DeepSeek chatbot, developed by a China-based artificial intelligence startup, sent the nation's user data to a third party, the Chinese owner of TikTok, ByteDance, according to officials Tuesday.
The confirmation came a day after the regulator, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), announced it has temporarily suspended new downloads of DeepSeek in Korea over concerns about its data collection practices.
"We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance," a PIPC official said.
However, the official said the PIPC has "yet to confirm what data was transferred and to what extent."
It was the first time the regulator confirmed potential leaks of user data by DeepSeek to a third party.
Under Korean law, explicit consent is required from a user if the user's personal information is provided to a third party.
The PIPC also sent a formal inquiry to DeepSeek seeking clarification on the service's data collection and management methods.
In response, DeepSeek has since assigned a representative in Korea and acknowledged shortcomings in considering local protection laws while also expressing its will to actively cooperate with the commission. (Yonhap)
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