Italy: Data Protection Authority ordered an immediate limitation on processing of data of Italian users by DeepSeek and opened investigation into company's data processing practices

On 30 January 2025, the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) ordered an immediate limitation on the processing of data of Italian users by DeepSeek. The order follows the communication from the company regarding the information on the personal data collected, its sources, purposes, legal basis, processing and storage locations, as well as how its AI system is trained. In particular, DeepSeek has denied operating in Italy and claimed that European regulations do not apply to the company. The response was deemed insufficient by the DPA which has subsequently launched an investigation.