Regulators said they would suspend the app until they could be sure it complied with the country’s data protection laws.

South Korea, on Monday banned new downloads of China’s DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, AI, chatbot. According to the country’s Personal Information Protection Commission, PIPC, the AI model will become available again to South Korean users when “improvements and remedies” are made to ensure it complies with the country’s personal data protection

DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, has temporarily paused downloads of its chatbot apps in South Korea while it works with local authorities to address privacy concerns, according to South Korean officials on Monday.