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Australia has become the latest country to impose a ban on DeepSeek, the rapidly rising Chinese chatbot, citing national security concerns. The country’s Department of Home Affairs has issued a directive mandating all government agencies to block the use and installation of DeepSeek’s products, applications, and web services. Additionally, any existing instances of the chatbot must be removed from Australian government systems and devices.
Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke emphasized that the decision was made to mitigate an “unacceptable risk” posed to government technology. According to the government’s statement, the move aims to protect both Australia’s national security and its broader national interests. However, the ban does not extend to private citizens or their personal devices.
This action follows the global trend of increasing scrutiny over DeepSeek’s rapid rise. Since its launch on January 10th, the Chinese-developed AI chatbot has quickly surpassed OpenAI’s ChatGPT in popularity, becoming the most downloaded free app in several countries, including the United States. DeepSeek’s creators claim to have trained their model at a fraction of the cost of its competitors, using less advanced chips—a factor that has raised alarms in the West about the efficiency of AI development and the huge investments poured into chipmakers and data centers, despite these claims likely being inaccurate.
Australia’s ban adds to similar measures by other nations. Italy has already imposed restrictions, and Taiwan recently barred its government departments from using the app. South Korea, Ireland, and France are also investigating DeepSeek, largely due to concerns about the chatbot’s data storage practices in China. A U.S. Senator has also proposed a bill that would ban the use of DeepSeek, among other Chinese technology, in the U.S.
This rising wave of restrictions echoes past measures against Chinese tech companies. The Australian government has already prohibited TikTok from government devices two years ago over privacy concerns.
As authorities across the globe examine the potential security risks posed by DeepSeek, the international debate about Chinese tech in government systems continues to intensify.
