‘Unacceptable’: Controversial Chinese platform banned

Intelligence agencies have warned that a Chinese AI platform poses a national security risk, leading to a major ban.

Controversial Chinese AI platform DeepSeek has been banned from all Australian Government devices after intelligence agencies warned it posed an “unacceptable” national security risk.

Labor issued the new rules on Tuesday requiring all non-corporate Commonwealth entities remove any existing instances of DeepSeek products, apps and services on all government systems and mobile devices.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government was taking “swift and decisive action to protect Australia’s national security and national interest”.

“AI is technology full of potential and opportunity, but the government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identity a national security risk,” he said.

“Our approach is country-agnostic and focused on the risk to the Australian Government and our assets.”

DeepSeek has been banned from all Australian Government devices after intelligence agencies warned it posed an “unacceptable” national security risk. Picture: Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP

The popularity of DeepSeek, China’s answer to artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT, has exploded in the weeks since the company launched new models, sparking national security concerns, sending financial markets into a panic and causing outcry over its blatant censorship.

RMIT computing technology expert Dr Dana McKay said the reason Chinese-made and owned tools were being banned was because the data they collected was available to the government in Beijing “not just when a crime has been committed, but also for economic or social reasons”.

Dr McKay said even though ChatGPT owner OpenAI collected similar data, that company would only hand over information to government to comply with laws, such as when a crime has been committed.

“Whether governments should be concerned about the level of data collected by commercial companies, such as OpenAI and Google, is still a significant question, but one that is separate to the national security concerns raised by China’s data sovereignty laws,” she said.

DeepSeek sent technology financial markets into a meltdown upon its launch amid claims from the start-up platform that its AI models were on par with its US rivals and were produced at a fraction of the cost.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government was taking “swift and decisive action to protect Australia’s national security and national interest”. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

The platform’s blatant censorship of issues sensitive to in China has also been criticised.

DeepSeek’s chatbot draws a blank when asked about the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, President Xi Jinping and the cultural revolution in China.

But the AI platform was happy to weigh in with commentary on other leaders like US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, as well as commentary on Australia’s human rights record, which it described as a “mixed picture”.

The decision to ban DeepSeek from all government devices and systems was based on risk and threat information provided to Labor by national security and intelligence agencies.

The action follows similar moves overseas, and comes after the government in 2023 similarly banned TikTok — deemed a “high-risk” platform.

Although the mandatory DeepSeek ban only applies to government devices and systems, Labor has urged all Australians to ensure they are well informed about how their data can be used online and the steps they can take to protect their privacy.

Originally published as ‘Unacceptable’: Controversial Chinese platform banned