What prompted countries to ban DeepSeek so quickly?

The main reason for countries' quick ban on DeepSeek is due to serious concerns about its data privacy and security. DeepSeek is an artificial intelligence application developed by a Chinese startup whose data is stored on servers in China. Under Chinese law, companies need to cooperate with government intelligence collection requirements, which raises concerns that user data may be accessed by the Chinese government.

Additionally, DeepSeek's iOS app was found to send unencrypted data to a ByteDance-controlled server, which increased the risk of data breaches. NowSecure pointed out that DeepSeek fails to encrypt data transmissions according to Apple's recommended methods, which may cause data to be intercepted or tampered.

In view of these security and privacy issues, the U.S. Navy has banned its members from using DeepSeek, and government agencies in other countries and regions have taken similar measures. For example, Italy's data protection agency has removed DeepSeek's data processing method from the app store after questioning it.

Therefore, countries promptly banned DeepSeek, mainly due to deep concerns about its data privacy and security, concerns that user data may be accessed or leaked unauthorized.