Pressure on Chinese technology has intensified in Germany, with the local data protection commissioner calling on Apple and Google to remove the DeepSeek app from their stores, citing its failure to comply with EU rules on transferring personal data outside the bloc.
Pressure on Chinese technology has intensified in Germany, with the local data protection commissioner calling on Apple and Google to remove the DeepSeek app from their stores, citing its failure to comply with EU rules on transferring personal data outside the bloc.
Pressure on Chinese technology has intensified in Germany, with the local data protection commissioner calling on Apple and Google to remove the DeepSeek app from their stores, citing its failure to comply with EU rules on transferring personal data outside the bloc.
According to TechCrunch, Meike Kamp, Berlin’s data protection and freedom of information commissioner, has filed a formal complaint against Apple and Google, saying DeepSeek’s developers have failed to provide convincing evidence that user data is being processed in accordance with GDPR.
«Chinese authorities have broad powers to access personal data if that data is stored or transferred within the jurisdiction of Chinese companies,» Kamp said.
According to her, the company should have either brought its data processing policy into line with EU law or removed the app from the German market. But DeepSeek failed to do so.
This is not the first time a Chinese app has been banned in Europe. Earlier this year, Italy also removed DeepSeek from its app stores over similar privacy concerns. EU human rights groups have repeatedly pointed out that DeepSeek’s privacy policy explicitly states that the data it collects is stored on servers in China.
Apple and Google have not yet publicly commented on the German authorities' request. However, the companies are obliged to consider the request and, if violations are confirmed, decide to block it.
Given geopolitical tensions and the high risk of state interference, the activities of Chinese technology companies are increasingly coming under regulatory pressure in Europe. In 2024-2025, the European Union has already initiated inspections of TikTok, Huawei, and now DeepSeek.
We previously wrote about how a team of researchers from China implemented a revolutionary development in the field of military modeling — a combat scenario generator based on the large DeepSeek language model.
