Australia has prohibited the use of DeepSeek on all government devices, citing security concerns associated with the Chinese artificial intelligence startup, as reported by Reuters. The Department of Home Affairs issued a directive mandating all government entities to “prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services and, where found, remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services from all Australian government systems and devices.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stated that DeepSeek posed an “unacceptable risk” to government technology, leading to the immediate ban aimed at protecting Australia’s national security and national interest. This ban does not extend to devices owned by private citizens.

The decision follows similar actions in Italy and Taiwan, where concerns have been raised about DeepSeek’s security implications. Notably, two years ago, the Australian government also banned the Chinese social media app TikTok over security concerns