A concerning privacy revelation has emerged about DeepSeek, the rapidly growing Chinese AI company that has recently gained widespread attention. According to the company's own privacy policy, all user data is being stored on servers located in mainland China.
The data collection spans across multiple categories, including:
- All chat conversations and prompts
- Account information (email, phone number, date of birth)
- Device details and system information
- Keystroke patterns
- IP addresses
- Crash reports
- Usage analytics
The company's web infrastructure appears to send data to Chinese tech giant Baidu and Volces, a Chinese internet infrastructure provider.
Privacy experts warn that this extensive data collection, combined with storage in China, raises serious concerns. Under Chinese law, companies must cooperate with national intelligence efforts and share data when requested by authorities.
Users have already reported instances of content censorship on topics sensitive to the Chinese government. The AI platform refuses to generate responses about certain historical events like the Tiananmen Square protests.
While users can delete their chat history through the settings menu, the initial transmission of data to Chinese servers cannot be prevented when using the web or mobile interfaces. The only way to avoid sending data to China is by downloading and running DeepSeek's models locally on personal computers.
This revelation comes amid growing scrutiny of Chinese-owned tech platforms and their data practices. Unlike TikTok, which moved to US-based servers to address security concerns, DeepSeek is explicitly storing all user information in China with no apparent plans to change this practice.
Industry analysts emphasize that users should avoid sharing any sensitive or personal information through the platform given these data collection and storage policies.