The recent launch of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI application, has sparked significant uproar in the United States, attracting many American users and raising alarms among government officials and cybersecurity experts regarding potential national security threats.

DeepSeek’s Rapid Rise

DeepSeek made its debut in the U.S. on Monday, quickly achieving the status of the most downloaded free app on Apple’s app store. This surge in popularity had substantial repercussions on Wall Street, impacting stocks—particularly those of Nvidia, a manufacturer of advanced AI chips—which saw a 17% decline, resulting in a historic loss of approximately $600 billion in market value.

President Trump characterized this event as a critical alert for U.S. policymakers. Following the launch, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the National Security Council (NSC) would review the application’s implications, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to maintaining American leadership in AI technology.

Legislative Response and Concerns

Lawmakers are also voicing their apprehensions. Rep. John Moolenaar, a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, expressed that the U.S. must prevent technologies like DeepSeek from jeopardizing national security. He advocates for stronger export controls on technologies essential to the infrastructure of this Chinese AI application.

This scrutiny comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and China regarding trade and technology. The U.S. has already implemented extensive export controls affecting China’s semiconductor manufacturing, particularly focusing on advanced AI capabilities.

The Security Risks Posed by DeepSeek

Experts warn that DeepSeek’s presence in the U.S. introduces serious data security and privacy risks for its users. Ross Burley, co-founder of the Centre for Information Resilience, noted that Chinese legislation grants the government extensive access to data sourced from companies operating in China.

“An increasing number of users could unwittingly provide personal data to the Chinese Communist Party, which might exploit this information for targeted campaigns,” Burley highlighted.

DeepSeek’s privacy policy explicitly states that user data is stored on secure servers located in China, collecting various data points such as device models, operating system details, and usage patterns.

A Comparative Analysis with TikTok

Unlike TikTok, which faced a potential ban in the U.S. due to similar security concerns, DeepSeek’s status as an open-source large language model may alter perceptions of its threat level. Matt Sheehan from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace noted that certain U.S. companies use variants of DeepSeek that adhere to stricter data privacy standards.

Efforts by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to mitigate concerns include moving U.S. user data to servers owned by Oracle in 2022. The legislation enacted to protect consumers from foreign adversary-controlled applications grants the government powers to enforce strict measures on tech platforms identified as security threats.

Influence and Censorship Issues

A major concern regarding DeepSeek is the platform’s potential for censorship. An analysis by CBS News revealed that searches regarding the Tiananmen Square protests yielded no results through the app, raising suspicions about its content regulation policies.

Burley suggests that this kind of information suppression could lead to increased pressure on policymakers in Western nations to reconsider the availability of DeepSeek on mainstream app stores, warning about its capacity to promote narratives aligned with the Chinese government.