Australia has banned DeepSeek on all government devices over concerns that the Chinese artificial intelligence startup poses a security threat, the government said on Tuesday.
The Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs issued a mandatory directive to all government agencies to "prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek products, apps, and web services and, where found, remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, apps, and web services from all Australian government systems and devices," according to the statement.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said that DeepSeek posed an "unacceptable risk" to government technologies, and the immediate ban was aimed "at protecting Australia's national security and national interests," several Australian media outlets reported on Tuesday evening.
The ban does not apply to private individuals' devices.
Shares of tech companies around the world fell following the launch of DeepSeek last month, as its price was significantly lower than competing artificial intelligence models, and it also required less advanced chips to run. This raised concerns about Western investments in semiconductor manufacturers and data centers.
Australia's decision to ban DeepSeek follows similar actions in Italy, while other European countries and nations are also examining the Chinese AI company. At the same time, experts note that security concerns related to artificial intelligence technologies are becoming increasingly relevant to governments worldwide.
Earlier this week, Taiwan banned government agencies from using DeepSeek, citing potential threats to national security.
Two years ago, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government introduced a nationwide ban on the Chinese social media app TikTok due to security concerns.