Germany: Data Protection Commissioner issued a notice to Apple and Google under Digital Services Act stating that DeepSeek AI application constitutes illegal content

On 27 June 2025, the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, together with the Data Protection Commissioners of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, formally notified Apple and Google in Germany that the artificial intelligence (AI) application DeepSeek constitutes illegal content. The authorities emphasised that the application unlawfully transfers large volumes of personal data from German users to servers in China without the safeguards required under Article 46(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). They further noted that the developer, Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, failed to comply with a prior request to either remove the application or implement lawful data transfer mechanisms. As a result, the Commissioner reported the application under Article 16 of the Digital Services Act.