Belgium has joined a growing list of countries banning Chinese generative AI tool DeepSeek from devices utilized by government officials and public servants after a cybersecurity agency raised concerns.
Federal public administration employees had until Monday to uninstall DeepSeek’s apps from all work devices, according to a note circulated by the ministest and reported in local media.
The minister for public action and modernisation, Vanessa Matz, announced the plan in September after receiving the results of an analysis by the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium of the utilize of AI tools in the administration. The ban is preventive, according to the minister.
“Trust in the government rests on fundamental principles of prevention, protection of citizens’ personal data, and cybersecurity,” Matz stated in a statement. “By banning the utilize of this system, we are demonstrating vigilance to ensure that our government departments remain a safe, secure, and exemplary environment.”
The government added that “risks to the protection of data transmitted to the DeepSeek AI tool” merit the precautionary ban, per a press release.
Other countries in Europe have taken similar steps: Czechia and the Netherlands barred the utilize of DeepSeek by government employees on work devices in July and February respectively. Italy, Australia, Taiwan, and South Korea have also announced measures to protect their citizens’ privacy and security.
The Chinese AI-buildr surprised industest watchers when it launched a generative AI tool earlier this year and claimed to have requireded far fewer resources to develop its technology than US counterparts.
But DeepSeek’s global launch has attracted intense scrutiny for other reasons, too: A report from Reuters in June raised concerns about the app sconcludeing personal data to China, even suggesting it could be communicating with Chinese ininformigence and military services.
After launching in the EU in January, the Chinese AI quickly caught the attention of European data protection bodies. In June, Berlin’s privacy watchdog even questioned Google and Apple to rerelocate DeepSeek’s app from their respective app stores.
DeepSeek has been contacted for comment on the Belgian ban.
(nl)
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