DeepSeek, a competitor of ChatGPT, may face legal ramifications in the European Union after the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection ordered that Google and Apple remove the AI app from their stores.
After discovering that the DeepSeek app violates the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Meike Kamp issued a press release on June 27 urging Google and Apple to take the app down. The action follows Kamp's earlier request that DeepSeek either voluntarily remove its app from Germany or alter its procedures to safeguard the data of German users, neither of which DeepSeek did.
"The transfer of user data by DeepSeek to China is unlawful. DeepSeek has not been able to provide my office with convincing evidence that data of German users is protected in China at a level equivalent to that of the European Union. Chinese authorities have extensive access rights to personal data held by Chinese companies,” Kamp stated.
"In addition, DeepSeek users in China do not have enforceable rights and effective legal remedies as guaranteed in the European Union. I have therefore informed Google and Apple, as operators of the largest app platforms, of the violations and expect a prompt review of a blocking.”
This does not imply that DeepSeek will be removed from the Google Play Store or App Store right away. Apple and Google must consider Kamp's request and choose their course of action. If the app is eventually taken down, it probably won't affect users in other countries; it might only be blocked in Germany or the EU broadly. Despite this, millions of users may be looking for a new favourite AI software, given that DeepSeek had over 50 million downloads on the Google Play Store as of July 2025.
In any case, given this news, some users might wish to get rid of the app altogether. As Kamp's news statement states, "According to its own website, [DeepSeek] processes extensive personal data of users, including all text entries, chat histories, and uploaded files, as well as information about location, devices used, and networks.”
Users who care about their data privacy, regardless of where they live, should likely be concerned about Kamp's office's increased efforts to have DeepSeek banned in Germany or to have it provide data protection that complies with EU regulations. However, the same could be said for the majority of social media and AI apps.
