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DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, is facing increasing scrutiny from governments and regulators worldwide. Due to concerns over data privacy and storage practices, several nations have banned or imposed restrictions on its use in public systems. The heightened regulatory backlash includes the possibility of restrictions in the U.S.

Source: Reuters

What to know:

• DeepSeek has been criticized for its potential to compromise data privacy and expose sensitive information.
• Global regulators are placing AI data governance and privacy under the microscope, especially when AI tools store and process vast amounts of personal data.
• Some governments have even restricted DeepSeek from operating in public sector systems due to the risk it poses to data protection, including:
  
  • Germany: In June, Germany's data protection authority requested that Apple and Google remove DeepSeek from their stores due to concerns about data safety.
  • Italy: Italy's antitrust watchdog, AGCM, concluded an investigation into DeepSeek for failing to inform users that it could produce false information. The investigation was closed after DeepSeek agreed to binding commitments. In January 2025, it also blocked the app, citing insufficient transparency regarding the use of personal data.
  • Netherlands: The Dutch privacy watchdog announced an investigation into DeepSeek’s data collection practices at the end of January 2025 and urged users to exercise caution when using the software.
  • Australia: In early February, Australia banned DeepSeek from all government devices due to security concerns.

Why it matters:
This scrutiny highlights a growing global concern: AI tools must be transparent and accountable in how they manage data. As AI systems become more pervasive, enterprises must ensure robust observability and real-time monitoring to detect data misuse and prevent vulnerabilities.

The AWS outage was a reminder.

When the cloud goes down, who’s protecting your data?

Alexa, Ring, Snapchat, and Fortnite were all affected by the AWS outage — and so were many security tools that rely on it.
Source: TechRadar

What to know:

• Most data protection platforms run in the cloud—often on AWS itself
• When AWS stumbles, those protections may disappear too
• Even short outages can mean missed detections, failed anonymization, or unprotected sessions

Why it matters:
If your data protection only works when the cloud is up, you’re betting security on uptime you don’t control.

Local-first systems don’t go down when the cloud does.
Worth asking your vendor where their protections actually run.