Berlin’s data protection authority has escalated a high-stakes confrontation with Chinese artificial intelligence developer DeepSeek, formally requesting Apple and Google to remove the popular ChatGPT competitor from their German app stores. Commissioner Meike Kamp declared the company’s transfer of European user data to China “unlawful” under EU privacy laws, marking the latest regulatory firestorm over international data flows and AI governance.
The June 27 notification under Article 16 of the Digital Services Act compels the tech giants to review DeepSeek’s compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Kamp’s office concluded that DeepSeek failed to provide “convincing evidence” that German users’ data receives protection equivalent to EU standards when processed in China. This enforcement action follows DeepSeek’s alleged refusal to comply with a May 6 ultimatum to either implement legal safeguards for data transfers, cease transfers entirely, or voluntarily withdraw from the German market.
Systematic GDPR Violations
At the core of the dispute is DeepSeek’s comprehensive data collection regime. According to Kamp’s findings, the AI app processes extensive personal information, including all text entries, chat histories, uploaded files, geolocation data, and device/network details and then transfers this data to servers in China. The company’s privacy policy explicitly states that user information is stored domestically in China, creating an inherent conflict with GDPR’s restrictions on cross-border data transfers.
“Chinese authorities have far-reaching access rights to personal data within the sphere of influence of Chinese companies,” Kamp stated, highlighting fundamental concerns about Beijing’s surveillance laws. She further noted that “DeepSeek users in China do not have enforceable rights and effective legal remedies as guaranteed in the European Union”. This legal environment, German authorities argue, makes compliance with GDPR’s data protection principles effectively impossible for China-based AI services.
EU-Wide Regulatory Crackdown Intensifies
Germany’s enforcement action mirrors Italy’s January 2025 ban on DeepSeek, which similarly cited insufficient data safeguards. The Italian Data Protection Authority ordered a complete block on the app after DeepSeek reportedly refused to cooperate with information requests. The coordinated response reflects growing European skepticism toward Chinese tech providers following heightened awareness of national security laws compelling companies to share data with intelligence agencies.
Privacy experts warn that DeepSeek’s technical vulnerabilities compound these legal concerns. Independent testing by firms, including Enkrypt AI, found DeepSeek-R1 significantly more prone to generating harmful content and insecure code than Western counterparts, 11 times more vulnerable to producing dangerous outputs, and 4.5 times more likely to generate exploitable code than OpenAI’s models.
Global Implications for AI Market
With over 50 million downloads on the Google Play Store alone, DeepSeek’s potential removal could impact millions of global users, though any blocking would likely be limited to German or EU app stores initially. Apple and Google now face critical decisions that could establish precedents for handling cross-border data disputes. Neither company has publicly commented on Kamp’s notification as of July 8.
“This case crystallizes the collision between AI innovation and regulatory sovereignty,” remarked Dr. Lena Vogel, a Berlin-based cybersecurity law analyst. “When companies bypass fundamental compliance requirements, regulators have no choice but to enforce gateway controls through platform operators.” The outcome may accelerate balkanization in the global AI landscape, with services increasingly segmented along geopolitical fault lines.
As EU regulators prepare to enforce the comprehensive AI Act starting August 2025, DeepSeek’s confrontation with European authorities signals tougher scrutiny of international AI providers. With neither side showing a willingness to compromise, the standoff threatens to exclude one of China’s most promising AI exports from Europe’s lucrative digital market and potentially inspire similar actions against other non-EU AI services.
Subscribe to my whatsapp channel
Comments are closed.