A new bipartisan bill introduced in the House Intelligence Committee now seeks to halt the use of DeepSeek’s AI chatbot on all US government-issued devices, citing national security risks and concerns over potential links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The legislation, known as the No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act, is being co-sponsored by Representative Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Representative Darin LaHood (R-IL). The lawmakers argue that DeepSeek’s AI system could expose data to Chinese state-controlled entities.
“The Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that it will exploit any tool at its disposal to undermine our national security, spew harmful disinformation, and collect data on Americans,” Gottheimer commented on the matter. “We simply can’t risk the CCP infiltrating the devices of our government officials and jeopardizing our national security.” If passed, the bill would require all federal agencies to remove DeepSeek from government networks within 60 days and prevent any future installations of the chatbot on official devices.
The proposed DeepSeek ban closely mirrors previous actions taken against TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media app that was banned from federal government devices in 2022 due to security concerns. In that case, lawmakers argued that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, had the potential to share US user data with Chinese authorities, prompting a wave of legislative actions to limit the app’s influence in the US.
For those who missed it, DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup, has quickly gained global recognition for its advanced large language models (LLMs), such as DeepSeek-V3 and R1. These models rival AI systems developed by OpenAI, Google, and Meta, and can provide high-quality responses at a lower computational cost. DeepSeek’s latest model, R1, has drawn attention for reportedly outperforming OpenAI’s GPT-4o in reasoning tasks as well.
However, despite DeepSeek’s success, its alleged ties to the Chinese government have triggered security concerns. According to media reports, a recent cybersecurity analysis by Feroot Security, a Canadian security firm, revealed that DeepSeek’s chatbot application contains hidden scripts that transmit user data to China Mobile, a state-owned telecom company with documented ties to the Chinese military. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already banned China Mobile from operating in the US. DeepSeek’s chatbot is said to store sensitive user data, including conversations, uploaded documents, and proprietary business information, creating the possibility that this data could be accessed by the Chinese government under China’s strict cybersecurity laws.
While the proposed legislation is still in its early stages, several US federal agencies and military branches have already moved to block DeepSeek from their networks. The Pentagon recently restricted access to the AI chatbot after discovering that employees had connected government computers to DeepSeek’s servers for at least two days before security officials intervened. To add to this, the Defense Information Systems Agency, which oversees Pentagon cybersecurity operations, took immediate action to block DeepSeek’s website, preventing further access. Similarly, both the US Navy and NASA have issued internal bans on the chatbot, following their own security assessments. At the state level, Texas has become the first US state to enact a ban on DeepSeek across all government-owned devices.
The US is not alone in taking steps to mitigate the security risks presented by DeepSeek. Italy, South Korea, and Australia have all implemented government-wide bans on DeepSeek, restricting public officials from using the chatbot on government-owned devices. Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued an official warning to government officials, advising them to “strictly avoid” using AI tools like DeepSeek and ChatGPT for official tasks, fearing that sensitive data could be compromised.
