Governments restrict DeepSeek over where its data goes: Italy’s privacy regulator acted against it in 2025, South Korea paused downloads for two months, and Australia and Taiwan barred it from government use.
Every day we open DeepSeek from inside 24 countries, mostly over home broadband, and record
where it’s blocked, since when and how.
0 of 24tested countries with a confirmed block of DeepSeek
No confirmed blocks in the 24 countries with current results. 24 of 24 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Blocked means the networks we test there failed to open www.deepseek.com, twice, while it opened elsewhere.
“Turned away by the site” means DeepSeek itself refused visitors from that country.
* First observed on this date: the block may be older. Older results are excluded from current totals.
Background
Where DeepSeek is restricted, and why
DeepSeek is run from China: its privacy policy says it collects, processes and stores users’ personal data in the People’s Republic of China. Regulators abroad have focused on that data. In June 2025 Berlin’s data protection commissioner called DeepSeek’s transfers to China unlawful, pointing to Chinese authorities’ far-reaching access to personal data, and reported its apps to Apple and Google as illegal content under the EU’s Digital Services Act.
In Italy, on 30 January 2025, the data protection authority, the Garante, ordered an urgent limitation on DeepSeek’s processing of Italians’ data, after the companies behind it said they didn’t operate in Italy and that European law didn’t apply to them. DeepSeek also removed its app from Italian app stores, though Reuters reported that the web version kept working.
South Korea’s privacy regulator, the Personal Information Protection Commission, suspended new downloads from 15 February 2025, while the web version stayed available. The app returned to Korean app stores on 28 April 2025; the commission said DeepSeek had transferred user data and prompts without permission after its launch there. In early February 2025 Australia banned DeepSeek from all government devices and Taiwan barred government departments from using it.
At home, DeepSeek has to follow Chinese rules: as a Chinese provider it falls under the Cyberspace Administration of China’s 2023 measures, which require AI-generated content to embody “core socialist values”. In January 2025 The Guardian found that DeepSeek answered a question about the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown with “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope” and suggested changing the subject.
Key dates
Berlin’s data protection commissioner reports DeepSeek’s apps to Apple and Google as illegal content, calling its data transfers to China unlawful.
DeepSeek’s app returns to South Korean app stores after the company partly adopts the privacy regulator’s recommendations.
South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission suspends new downloads of DeepSeek; the web version stays available.
Australia orders all government bodies to block and remove DeepSeek, calling it an unacceptable security risk.
Italy’s Garante orders an urgent limitation on DeepSeek’s processing of Italians’ data, with immediate effect, and opens an investigation.
Get past a block
DeepSeek blocked where you are?
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History
Changes for DeepSeek
No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.
Method
How we test
Test machines on the two biggest home-internet providers in most countries open the homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
On data protection grounds. Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, ordered an urgent limitation on DeepSeek’s processing of Italians’ data on 30 January 2025, after judging the companies’ answers about how they use personal data insufficient. They had argued that they didn’t operate in Italy and that European law didn’t apply to them.
Is DeepSeek Banned in South Korea?
It was paused for about two months. South Korea’s privacy regulator suspended new downloads from 15 February 2025, while the web version stayed available, and the app returned to Korean app stores on 28 April 2025, after DeepSeek partly adopted the regulator’s recommendations and revised its privacy policy.
Why Is DeepSeek Banned on Government Devices?
Over security. In February 2025 Australia ordered every government body to block and remove DeepSeek’s apps and web services, which its home affairs minister called an unacceptable risk, and Taiwan barred government departments from using it the same week. Australia’s ban doesn’t cover private citizens’ devices.
