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US lawmakers to ban DeepSeek from govt devices due to 'security threat'
The China Mobile telecommunications company was banned from operating in the US.
February 07, 2025, 08:18 PM
A bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Representatives in Congress seeks to outlaw installing DeepSeek, the Chinese-developed AI chatbot, from being installed on government-owned devices.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Feb. 6, 2025 that legislation was introduced by Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) that would limit the use of the chatbot in the U.S.
Login information could be sent to computer infrastructure owned by Chinese state-owned company
While the release of the chatbot by DeepSeek was open-source, security experts have determined that the chatbot has hidden code as part of the login and account creation process, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
According to Feroot Security, a Canadian cybersecurity company, the code could send some users' login information to computer infrastructure to China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company that has been banned from operating in the U.S.
AP independently verified Feroot Security's findings with other security experts, who confirmed that China Mobile code was present.
While they did not detect any data being transferred while testing their logins, they could not rule out the possibility that information for some users was being transferred to China Mobile.
These other experts performed their testing on the website version of DeepSeek, and not the mobile app version.
Other nations restricting DeepSeek
Feroot Security's findings led Gottheimer and LaHood to push for the new legislation.
According to LaHood, the "national security threat that DeepSeek- a CCP-affiliated company- poses to the United States is alarming".
"Under no circumstances can we allow a CCP company to obtain sensitive government or personal data," LaHood said.
If passed, DeepSeek would face a similar fate as TikTok, which was also banned from being downloaded onto U.S. government devices.
Other governments have already moved to restrict DeepSeek, with Australia, Italy, and key ministries in South Korea banning it from government systems.
Top image via AFP.
