More Australian States & Territories Ban DeepSeek on Government Devices Due to an “Unacceptable Level of Security Risk”

More Australian states and territories have now banned the Chinese-developed DeepSeek products, applications, and web services on government devices, citing serious security vulnerabilities that could expose sensitive data. The decision follows a federal directive from the Australian Department of Home Affairs on Feb. 4, noting that DeepSeek “poses an unacceptable level of security risk” due to its susceptibility to jailbreak attacks and data transmission concerns.

Under the directive, Australian government agencies must prohibit the installation or use of DeepSeek software and services, and immediately remove existing instances from government devices and systems.

Where is DeepSeek banned?

The sweeping bans — imposed by Queensland, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, New South Wales, and the Northern Territory — underscore the growing fears over AI-enabled cyber threats. While Victoria and Tasmania are the only Australian states yet to impose a ban, pressure is mounting as experts have found critical flaws in the app.

DeepSeek is also banned in Italy and Taiwan, and some U.S. lawmakers are advocating for it to be banned for U.S. government devices.

What is the response to DeepSeek bans in Australia?

The Australian government’s cautious approach was echoed by Federal Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic. Instead of pushing for rapid innovation to compete with China, he raised concerns that the app’s remarkable capabilities may have come at the cost of proper “data and privacy management.”

China’s foreign ministry has criticised Australia’s ban as the “politicization of economic, trade and technological issues,” asserting that it has never and will never require enterprises or individuals to illegally collect or store data.

What is DeepSeek’s-R1?

DeepSeek’s-R1 reasoning model, which was released in January 2025 and is comparable in power to OpenAI’s o1 but significantly cheaper, quickly surged to the top of Apple’s App Store, causing a stir among American AI companies. Its debut rattled financial markets — in particular, NVIDIA and Microsoft stocks took a hit, as investor confidence in the U.S. AI makers dipped.
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