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The United States has directed federal agencies to remove applications developed by Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek from government computer systems, citing potential national security risks and concerns over the exposure of sensitive information to Chinese authorities, The Epoch Times reported. The restrictions also prohibit federal departments from using DeepSeek technology in official operations and government contracts.
According to The Epoch Times, the directives were issued on October 16 by the secretaries of Homeland Security and War, along with the director of national intelligence, under a federal law aimed at addressing security threats associated with government supply chains. A spokesperson for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) told The Epoch Times that executive agencies are prohibited from installing, accessing or operating DeepSeek applications. Departments have also been instructed to identify and remove any existing installations from government systems. According to the report, the federal contracting database SAM.gov lists DeepSeek under an active exclusion effective October 16, without a specified expiration date. The Epoch Times reported that an earlier directive signed by the Department of Homeland Security on July 24 and made public on October 19 detailed the security concerns underlying the decision. According to The Epoch Times, the department warned that DeepSeek's servers are located in China, where authorities have extensive legal powers to access information held by private companies. This raises concerns that data submitted by American government employees and contractors could be transferred to China, potentially exposing confidential information about federal operations and personnel. Officials also flagged concerns about personal data collection, user tracking and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. In February 2025, cybersecurity firm NowSecure identified several weaknesses in DeepSeek's iPhone application, including unencrypted data transmission, insecure storage of sensitive information and features that could enable user tracking. Researchers also detected connections to infrastructure operated by ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok. The report said that a separate investigation by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party in April 2025 accused DeepSeek of transmitting American user data to China and aligning certain artificial intelligence responses with Beijing's censorship policies. (ANI)
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