Australia has imposed a ban on DeepSeek on all government devices, citing national security risks.

The prohibition is specifically targeted at government equipment and does not affect private citizens’ devices.

In January 2025, Chinese AI firm DeepSeek launched a chatbot that reportedly matched the performance of its US counterparts at a significantly lower training cost.

However, the Australian government has clarified that the ban stems from the “unacceptable risk” to national security, not the company’s Chinese origins.

Australia Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was cited by local publications as saying that DeepSeek posed an “unacceptable risk” to government technology.

The immediate ban aims “to protect Australia’s national security and national interest”.

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An Australian science minister had expressed caution regarding DeepSeek earlier in January 2025, highlighting “data and privacy” issues.

The Australian Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs issued a “mandatory direction” under the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF).

A press statement from PSPF reads: “This Direction requires Australian 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.”

The move by Australia follows similar decisions in other countries, with Italy implementing a ban and various nations in Europe and beyond scrutinising the AI company’s operations.

Taiwan also prohibited the use of DeepSeek in government departments earlier this week.

Earlier, the Australian government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, had banned the Chinese social media platform TikTok from government devices two years ago, also due to security concerns.

Concerns about how DeepSeek manages user data have also prompted regulatory investigations in South Korea, Ireland, and France.

The inquiries are focused on the company’s practice of storing user data on servers located in China.