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Berlin's Data Protection Commissioner has formally requested that Google and Apple remove the DeepSeek app from their app stores for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Commissioner Meike Kamp claims that DeepSeek's owner, Beijing-based Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, is illegally collecting data from German users and transferring it to Chinese servers for processing.
According to the GDPR, and in particular Article 46(1), any personal data obtained from individuals located in the EU must be protected in accordance with the standards set by the regulation.
Kamp claims that China has very weak data protection standards and suggests that DeepSeek has hardly implemented sufficient legal safeguards to ensure that the information is secure in line with EU standards.
[td]"The company has no representation in the European Union," explains Kamp. "The service is available to users in Germany and other countries via apps in Google Play and the Apple App Store, with descriptions in German and the option to use it in German. As a result, the service is subject to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)."[/td]On May 6, 2025, the commissioner had already asked DeepSeek to voluntarily remove its apps from Google Play and the Apple App Store in Germany, but the company refused.
So now the authorities have used Section 16 of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which allows illegal content on platforms to be reported to the relevant operators, in this case Apple and Google. The companies will now have to consider this request and decide whether DeepSeek will be removed from the app stores.
Although the request came from the regional regulator and not the German federal government, it has been coordinated with other supervisory authorities as well as the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur).
Commissioner Meike Kamp claims that DeepSeek's owner, Beijing-based Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, is illegally collecting data from German users and transferring it to Chinese servers for processing.
According to the GDPR, and in particular Article 46(1), any personal data obtained from individuals located in the EU must be protected in accordance with the standards set by the regulation.
Kamp claims that China has very weak data protection standards and suggests that DeepSeek has hardly implemented sufficient legal safeguards to ensure that the information is secure in line with EU standards.
So now the authorities have used Section 16 of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which allows illegal content on platforms to be reported to the relevant operators, in this case Apple and Google. The companies will now have to consider this request and decide whether DeepSeek will be removed from the app stores.
Although the request came from the regional regulator and not the German federal government, it has been coordinated with other supervisory authorities as well as the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur).