Australian government bans DeepSeek due to national security risks

The Australian government has just issued a ban on DeepSeek from all federal devices, citing national security concerns as the decisive factor. Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke commented:

"The Albanese government is taking swift and decisive action to protect Australia's national security and national interest,"

Burke insists that the decision was not influenced by the app's location in China. Instead, emphasizing its risk to government and assets.

"AI is a technology full of potential and opportunity - but the government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk."

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Australia follows a myriad of countries that have introduced policies to limit security risks posed by the Chinese AI tool. Italy became the first country to ban DeepSeek as of January 30th, issuing a nationwide ban that includes national residents. Meanwhile, Taiwan and the United States have been active in introducing ban policies across various agencies and branches of government. Countries such as South Korea and France are currently pending investigations but are expected to follow suit.

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Australia previously issued a federal ban on Tiktok, and recently passed a law to ban users under 16 from accessing Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. Threats to national security were the driving factor for the former, while the latter was influenced by a mixture of national security and social concerns among the youth demographic. The DeepSeek ban aligns with global trends as governments scramble to respond to security concerns posed by the chatbot. Financially, the market continues to experience turbulence, with NVIDIA stocks struggling to recover from the staggering single-day loss on Thursday.

Only two weeks have passed since DeepSeek released the R1 model, and its effects on markets and governments are expected to continue. Neither China nor DeepSake has issued any comments in response to the ban.