DeepSeek (Hangzhou DeepSeek AI Co., Ltd.)

DeepSeek's early-2025 privacy policy was widely reported to list 'keystroke patterns or rhythms' among collected data (language absent from the current February 10, 2026 version), and the policy still stores your chats, voice input and uploaded files on servers inside the People's Republic of China, where the 2017 National Intelligence Law obliges companies to cooperate with state intelligence work and no privacy policy can override it. Then the execution matched the policy: security firm Wiz found a DeepSeek database sitting publicly on the internet with over a million records - chat histories, API keys, backend logs - and no authentication at all, meaning anyone who found it could read or modify the contents. Italy's regulator ordered DeepSeek to limit processing of Italian users' data on January 30, 2025; other European regulators reportedly opened investigations, and government-device bans were reported from Canberra to Washington.

• Severity
• Evidence tierUnassigned
• Claims confirmed
• Last verified2026-08-04

Primary source. None recorded — Unverified - heuristic first draft.

Arbitration

Chinese-law-governed terms; US-style arbitration/class-waiver analysis largely inapplicable, and practical recourse for a US consumer is limited by jurisdiction rather than by a waiver clause. REGULATORY ACTION (confirmed, distinct from private suits): Italy's Garante ordered DeepSeek to definitively limit processing of Italian users' data on January 30, 2025 (Registro n. 33); investigations reportedly followed in other European jurisdictions (reported as 13), and the EDPB reportedly broadened its ChatGPT taskforce into an AI enforcement task force. Government-device bans were reported in Italy, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, Czech Republic, Netherlands, plus multiple US federal agencies and states. A 'No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act' was introduced in Congress with bipartisan sponsors (status not verified this pass).

Contacts

Privacy contact. Not recorded.

Legal notice. Not verified this pass. If publicly traded: SEC Form 10-K cover page gives the official corporate address; the Secretary of State business-entity search in the state of incorporation gives the registered agent, which must accept service. If private: the state registered agent is usually the only reliable route.

Mailing address. Not recorded.