‘Discrimination’: China fury at Australia DeepSeek ban

Beijing has hit back at a plan to ban controversial AI app DeepSeek on government devices declaring Canberra to be kowtowing to the US.

Beijing has reacted with fury after the Australian government moved to ban the controversial Chinese AI company DeepSeek from all of its government systems and devices on national security grounds.

Both China’s foreign ministry and a Beijing controlled media outlet have hit back with claims Australia’s plan is “ideological discrimination”.

Home affairs minister Tony Burke announced on Tuesday night that the start-up, which sent stock markets into meltdown in recent weeks, would not be allowed to be installed on government devices due to “national security concerns”.

That does not represent a ban for everyday users who may choose to download and use DeepSeek.

It’s a similar situation to TikTok which is also banned on government devices, yet some politicians do have private TikTok accounts on personal phones.

Australia joins Taiwan and the US state of Texas which have similar DeepSeek restrictions on government phones. While Italy has gone a step further and effectively banned DeepSeek entirely by forcing its removal from app stores.

China is furious at the DeepSeek ban on Australian government devices. (Photo illustration by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images).

‘Ideological discrimination’

News agency AFP has reported that on Wednesday night, the Chinese foreign ministry said Australia’s move was “political”.

(“It is the) “politicisation of economic, trade and technological issues”, which Beijing opposes, the ministry stated.

“The Chinese government … has never and will never require enterprises or individuals to illegally collect or store data,” the statement said.

In an article on Chinese Communist Party mouth piece website the Global Times, Australia’s move was slammed as kowtowing to the US.

“Australia’s move is clearly driven by ideological discrimination, not technological concerns,” Liu Wei, director of the Human-Machine Interaction and Cognitive Engineering Laboratory at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, told the publication.

“When US federal agencies take steps to contain Chinese technology, Australia seems compelled to follow suit.

“If Australia were genuinely citing technological risks to national security, it should also have blocked US-based OpenAI and other tech companies that have integrated with DeepSeek. Yet, there is no indication that the Australian government will take similar action against US-based AI firms,” Mr Liu stated.

Leader of the House, minister for home affairs and minister for the arts, Tony Burke during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

On Tuesday, Mr Burke said the DeepSeek government ban was “swift a decisive action” to protect national security.

“AI is a technology full of potential and opportunity – but the Government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk.

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

Deep Seek has been banned by a number of territories and organisations. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)

Ed Husic’s warning

The announcement follows a warning from Federal industry and science minister Ed Husic against downloading DeepSeek.

Speaking to the ABC, Mr Husic said DeepSeek’s advancements in the field was evidence of China’s “determination in this space”.

“China has been determined since the last decade to be a world leader in artificial intelligence,” he said.

“It doesn’t come as a surprise that they would try to develop a workaround to some of the restrictions that have been placed on them.”

Asked if he would download the app, he urged caution.

“I would be very careful about that,” he said.

“I don’t have TikTok on my government phone. I think these types of issues have got to be weighed up carefully.”

In the US, both NASA and The Pentagon have ordered staff to steer clear of DeepSeek.

– with Samantha Maiden.

Originally published as ‘Discrimination’: China fury at Australia DeepSeek ban