US orders federal agencies to remove China's DeepSeek AI from their systems

What happened

DHS issued a directive banning federal civilian agencies from purchasing or operating DeepSeek products, including third-party services built on DeepSeek technology. Agencies may request exceptions.

Context and impact

DeepSeek has faced U.S. scrutiny since the R1 release in January 2025. DHS warned that sensitive data from government users could be accessible to Chinese authorities under Chinese law. The order extends to commercial software integrating DeepSeek via API.

Details

• Covers new purchases and existing deployments
• Applies to all federal civilian agencies
• Includes third-party products that integrate DeepSeek
• A September report accused DeepSeek of large-scale model distillation from U.S. AI systems
• China's Foreign Ministry called the move politicization of technology