Italy launches DeepSeek investigation over privacy concerns

About a week after its release, Italy became the first country to formally request a probe into how DeepSeek's chatbot handles users' personal data.

"Possible risk to the data of millions of people in Italy," wrote the Italian data watchdog authority, known as the Garante, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, in an official announcement.

Developed by a little-known Chinese startup, DeepSeek has seen almost 3 million downloads since its launch, reaching an estimated total user base of between 5-6 million users worldwide, according to SEO.AI data. Yet, experts in and out of Europe have warned of the potential privacy implications.

The companies that provide the Chinese ChatGPT rival – Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence and Beijing DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence – now have 20 days to respond to Italy's complaint.

Against GDPR rules

The Garante's complaint follows a report filed by Euroconsumers – a coalition of five national consumer organizations that also include its Italian member, Altrocunsumo.

After looking at how the DeepSeek app and chat services collect and handle users' data as per its own privacy policy, Euroconusmers found "multiple violations of European and national data protection regulations," the report reads.

These include transfers of European data to China without safeguards as required by GDPR rules, unclear information on how user data is used for online profiling, non-transparent information over data retention periods, and the lack of details on age verification or handling data of minors, among other things.

The Garante is also asking the companies behind DeepSeek AI to provide the clarifications needed for the services to legally operate in the country.

Italy's data watchdog seeks more information on the type of data used to train the artificial intelligence system. If personal data is collected through web scraping activities, DeepSeek would also need to clarify "how users registered and those not registered to the service have been or are informed about the processing of their data," wrote the Garante.

"Technological efficiency, however important, cannot prevail over people’s fundamental rights. It is essential to ensure that the development of AI occurs in full compliance with European regulation, which represents a pillar in the protection of fundamental values ​​and rights," Marco Scialdone, Head of Litigation at Euroconsumers, said to Eurofocus, commenting on the complaint.

This is not the first time that Italy has called out the privacy violations of AI chatbots.

In April 2023, the Garante temporarily banned the use of ChatGPT across the country as the AI mammoth was found responsible for improperly collecting and storing Italian data and, consequently, breaching GDPR rules. At that time, the ChatGPT ban provoked a surge in VPN downloads as Italians looked for ways to retain access to the popular AI chatbot.

It's too soon to tell whether DeepSeek will share the same fate, but we nonetheless advise you to approach the AI novelty with caution if you care about your online privacy.