Security ban slapped on DeepSeek AI app for government devices

Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek has been banned from Australian government systems and devices, following an assessment by intelligence agencies that the software poses an “unacceptable risk” to national security.

The move, set in motion by a Home Affairs’ protective security order, is similar to the government’s ban on TikTok on official devices.

Commonwealth entities have been directed to remove DeepSeek from their hardware, prevent future access to the app, and report compliance with the order to Home Affairs.

“This decision is based on the risk and threat information from our national security and intelligence agencies. DeepSeek poses an unacceptable risk to Australian government technology,” the government said.

While the order does not apply to private users, all Australians have been urged “to ensure they are well informed about how their data can be used online and the steps they can take to understand their online presence and protect their privacy”.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government was moving quickly to protect Australia’s security and the national interest. “AI is a technology full of potential and opportunity, but the government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk,” he said.

“Our approach is country-agnostic and focused on the risk to the Australian government and our assets.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in question time. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The move comes less than two years after TikTok was banned from government devices on the advice of the Australian Signals Directorate. It followed similar bans in recent days by Taiwan, Italy and the US state of Texas. The NSW Department of Customer Service has also blocked access to the AI app “to protect our data and information”.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson warned last week that DeepSeek and TikTok had “remarkably similar” data-collection policies, that threatened the security of users’ information.

“It would be surprising if our intelligence and security agencies arrived at a different conclusion about the privacy risk they pose to government users,” Senator Paterson told SBS on Friday.

“Any advice provided by our agencies should be promptly implemented to protect the commonwealth from this serious espionage risk before any harm is done.”

There has been a barrage of security-related warnings over the breakthrough app, with some drawing parallels to the threat posed by Chinese 5G technology that led to the ban on high-risk vendors including Huawei.

There are fears DeepSeek could access and share customer data with the Chinese Communist Party under the country’s national security laws. There are also censorship concerns associated with the app, which refuses to provide information on subjects deemed unacceptable to the CCP including the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs said it banned the app due to “information leakage and other information security concerns”.

The Italian Data Protection Authority said it blocked access to DeepSeek after the company behind the app failed to provide information on the personal data it collected.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the state would not allow the Chinese Communist Party to “infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps”.

Former Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo led the calls in Australia for DeepSeek to be subjected to “stringent technology controls and barriers”.

“All AI research and development has dual civilian and military use, and its widespread and effective application by China in the military sphere could give the People’s Liberation Army a significant combat edge just as geopolitical tensions will see the probability of confrontation and even conflict rise over the next four to five years,” Mr Pezzullo told The Australian.

“Aside from the dual-use problem, there is a significant data risk when China’s AI models are given access to proprietary, confidential, or otherwise closed data. Where does the accessed data go? Who else can see it? Can the Ministry of State Security (China’s internal security agency) demand and gain access, for instance?”

Science Minister Ed Husic flagged a possible ban on the app last week, saying the government would be informed by the advice of national security agencies.

“I’d be very careful about (downloading) it,” Mr Husic said.

DeepSeek triggered a sharemarket bloodbath last week after the company behind the software claimed it had been developed with a fraction of the computing power of US rivals.

Donald Trump said the AI disrupter was a “wake-up call” for American technology companies, which needed to be “laser-focused” on winning the AI race.

But some believed the company may have evaded US export controls barring Nvidia chips being sold to Chinese companies by sourcing them through third parties based in Singapore.

Tech investor and Trump ally Marc Andreessen declared DeepSeek R1 to be AI’s “Sputnik moment”, referencing the 1957 launch of Earth’s first artificial satellite by the Soviet Union that stunned the Western world.

This article first appeared in The Australian on February 4.