Tech Desk 
Jun 28, 2025
Germany has officially requested to remove the DeepSeek AI app from the app store of Apple and Alphabet. However, several concerns surrounding this decision about data privacy and transferring German users' data to China without protections have arisen.
DeepSeek AI has recently gained popularity due to its rapid responses to prompts and interface simplicity. Issues started when people began to look at an important part of DeepSeek AI's specifications, which stated that DeepSeek AI's back end is hosted on servers located in China, where the government is allowed by their national intelligence laws to access any user data. This revelation raised red flags across many countries.
Germany goes after DeepSeek AI
Germany is not the first to go against DeepSeek AI. Italy, South Korea, and the Netherlands were the first to take action restricting or banning DeepSeek AI. Belgium advised government officials not to use it; additionally, Spain is calling for an investigation.
Reportedly, the United States is drafting legislation to prevent Chinese-developed AI apps in government offices.
Germany’s top data protection official Meike Kamp said her office reached out to DeepSeek earlier to fix the issue or leave the EU market. But the company didn’t comply. In a statement, she said:
“DeepSeek has not been able to provide my agency with convincing evidence that German users’ data is protected in China to a level equivalent to that in the European Union.”
Germany is now asking Apple and Google to take the app down. A Google spokesperson told Reuters they are reviewing the request. Apple hasn’t responded yet.
