China -based AI Startup Deepsek is facing investigation in Europe after its chatbot app disappeared from App Store and Play Store in Italy. Italy’s Data Protection Authority (DPA) expressed concern on how the company collects and stores the user data, exactly one day later.

The issue began when a consumer rights group, EuroconsMers, lodged a complaint against Deepsek, questioning about handling personal data. In response, Italian Watchdog asked Deepsak to provide details about its data storage practices and gave the company 20 days to respond. However, officials say the initial answer of Deepsak was completely insufficient, indicating them to take immediate action by prohibiting the company by processing data from Italian users.

The main concern is that Deepsek’s privacy policy states that user data can be stored on servers located in China. While the company claims that it follows all the applicable data protection laws, authorities are concerned about the potential risks related to cyber security, confidentiality and disintegration. Italian Watchdog is not alone in its concerns – other privacy regulators in the European Union have reminded companies that they should follow the strict AI and data security laws of the region.

Deepsek’s chatbot is growing rapidly in popularity, topping the download chart in many countries including the US. However, concerns of privacy around the app have raised questions about how AI companies handle user data and whether their models are morally developed.

One of the concerns is that the AI ​​model of the Deepsek may have learned from a major American model such as OpenaiI’s chat. This exercise is known as distillation, learning a new AI model from an old, more installed one. While Openai has stated that Chinese companies often try to extract insights from American-developed AI, it is difficult to block the process as it is difficult to find out between millions of data requests.

Security concerns around Deepsak have also attracted the attention of the US government. The US Navy has already advised its personnel against using a chatbot for work or personal use, citing moral and security risks. Additionally, US officials have said that they are assessing whether the app gives rise to any national security threats.

Despite the removal of the app from the Italian store, the users who still want to use the AI ​​model of the lampsakes can do so in other ways. Since Deepsek has created its AI Open-SOS, people can download and run it locally on their computer. Others may access the chatbot through platforms such as Perplexity, hosting the model on servers outside China. Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, has claimed that his version of Deepsek does not have a censorship ban.