DeepSeek was declared to contain illegal content by German regulators, and the local government wants to remove it fromAppStoreand removed from the Google Play Store. DeepSeek is a generative artificial intelligence application produced in China and is available in the U.S. App StoreRanked No. 1, it was developed at a fraction of what OpenAI spent on ChatGPT, and even receivedTim CookofAppreciate. However, it is believed to existserious security issues, which prompted Germany to make this decision.
According to Reuters, Germany's data protection commissioner Meike Kamp has asked Apple and Google to remove DeepSeek because the company failed to meet required security standards.
In May 2025, Camp asked DeepSeek to meet relevant requirements, otherwise its application would be removed from the shelves, but DeepSeek did not meet the requirements.
"DeepSeek failed to provide my agency with convincing evidence that German users' data is protected in China to the same extent as the EU," Kemp said. "Chinese authorities have broad access to personal data within the sphere of influence of Chinese companies."
The move follows Italy's removal from app stores in early 2025. The Netherlands has also banned the use of DeepSeek on government equipment. DeepSeek is currently reportedly assisting Chinese military and intelligence operations, while the United States is considering banning executive agencies from using any Chinese-developed AI models.
In February 2025, security firm NowSecure claimed to have evidence that DeepSeek's iOS app was sending data to services owned by Chinese companies. The company notes that the Android version is less secure.
While neither Apple nor Google have commented, both companies complied with Italy's request to remove the app, meaning they are certain to do the same in Germany.