South Korea’s personal data protection watchdog has announced that downloads of the popular Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek have been banned in the country.

The Personal Information Protection Commission said the app was removed from the local version of Apple’s App Store and Google Play over the weekend. The officials said the app will remain unavailable until “improvements and remedies” have been made that meet the criteria for South Korea’s personal data protection laws. People who already have the app will still be able to use it, and DeepSeek’s website will continue to be available.

No sooner than DeepSeek had been released than it shot to the top of downloads in app stores, gaining at least a million weekly users. Then came the scrutiny in several countries over privacy and national security concerns, after which a number of South Korean government agencies banned their staff from downloading the app.

DeepSeek’s release stunned the tech world when it was let loose on the world at the end of January, sending U.S. tech stocks into a tailspin. Generally thought to be just as powerful as generative AI such as Open AI’s ChatGPT, DeepSeek was claimed to have been made at just a small fraction of the cost, raising doubts about the billions spent on American AI chatbots.

Since that rapid rise, a number of nations have put the brakes on DeepSeek downloads, including Australia, Taiwan and now South Korea, which have all cited privacy or national security concerns. Italy’s watchdog also reported a suspension of downloads, stating the country wasn’t content with DeepSeek’s data policy.

Like other generative AI apps, DeepSeek says it might collect personal information on its users, such as email addresses and dates of birth, and it will use prompts to improve its product. Given the fear over “made in China” tech and DeepSeek’s popularity, countries such as France and Ireland have since questioned DeepSeek’s privacy policies.

So far the U.S. hasn’t issued a ban on downloads of DeepSeek, but there has already been a proposal to stop federal employees using the app. Texas, Virginia and New York didn’t wait, already introducing bans for government employees earlier in February.

“Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps,” said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. “Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors.”

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