South Korea recently halted downloads of the DeepSeek app due to privacy breaches, such as unauthorized data sharing with ByteDance. The Chinese company, which serves 1.2 million users in South Korea, needs to adhere to local privacy regulations before downloads can resume. Despite this, current users can still utilize the app, although various governmental entities and major banks have banned DeepSeek on their networks. This move mirrors actions taken in Australia, Italy, and Taiwan in response to increasing international apprehension regarding data collection practices of Chinese AI apps.