Overview

• Berlin’s data protection commissioner Meike Kamp invoked the EU’s Digital Services Act after DeepSeek failed to comply with a May request to align its data transfers with GDPR or withdraw its app
• Apple and Google have been formally notified of DeepSeek’s unlawful transfer of German user data to China and must now review the request to block the app from their German stores
• DeepSeek’s privacy policy confirms that user prompts, chat histories and other personal data are stored on servers in China without demonstrable safeguards equivalent to EU standards
• Earlier regulatory actions in Italy, South Korea, Australia and restrictions on U.S. government devices reflect growing international concerns over data sovereignty and Chinese cybersecurity laws
• A German removal could pave the way for EU-wide enforcement against DeepSeek under uniform data protection and digital services rules