Berlin’s data protection authority has requested that Apple and Google remove the Chinese AI application DeepSeek from German app stores, a landmark move that could banish the once-hyped chatbot from Europe’s largest market. The complaint, filed by Commissioner Meike Kamp, alleges the app illegally transfers user data to China, violating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
According to German outlets rbb24.de and DER SPIEGEL, the regulator has flagged DeepSeek as “unlawful content” under the EU’s powerful Digital Services Act. The action follows the company’s failure to prove it could shield European user data from China’s state security apparatus. This formal complaint transforms months of simmering security concerns into a direct challenge, creating a critical test case for how Western platform holders handle apps from geopolitical rivals.
For DeepSeek, a company that briefly saw its app surpass ChatGPT in download charts, the German action is a culminating blow. It caps a year of escalating pressure from Western governments and arrives just as the company’s own product ambitions have ground to a halt, painting a stark picture of a firm caught in a geopolitical and regulatory vise.
A Widening Dragnet Across the West
Long before German regulators took action, a multi-pronged campaign to contain DeepSeek was already underway in the United States. The U.S. Navy fired the first major shot in January 2025, banning the app from its networks over security risks. A month later, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a directive to purge DeepSeek from all state-issued devices, declaring, “Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps.”
These state-level actions were a prelude to a federal push. A bipartisan bill was introduced in the U.S. Congress in February to prohibit DeepSeek from all government systems. That effort was reinforced on June 26, when a new bipartisan bill, the “No Adversarial AI Act,” was introduced in the Senate to block AI tools from China and other U.S. adversaries.
The threat was deemed so severe that one lawmaker described it as “a five alarm national security fire.” This legislative pressure is not merely theoretical as at least one attempt by a U.S. Department of Agriculture employee to access DeepSeek was blocked by security software.
The sentiment was crystallized in a scathing April report from the US House Select Committee on the CCP, which offered a stark assessment in its findings: “This report makes it clear: DeepSeek isn’t just another AI app — it’s a weapon in the Chinese Communist Party’s arsenal, designed to spy on Americans, steal our technology, and subvert U.S. law.” This pattern of restriction has spread across Europe, where the Netherlands has also banned it from government devices.
An Unenforceable Fine and a Digital Services Act Gambit
The German case against DeepSeek is built on the bedrock of European data law: the GDPR’s requirement that any personal data transferred abroad must receive protection equivalent to that offered within the EU. According to Berlin’s Commissioner Meike Kamp, DeepSeek failed to meet this standard. In a statement reported by Bloomberg, she explained that the core issue is that users in China lack the “enforceable rights and effective legal remedies… guaranteed in the European Union.”
The regulator’s move comes after a May attempt to achieve voluntary compliance from the company failed. Instead of issuing a fine, which she concluded wouldn’t be able to enforce the penalty in China, Kamp’s office opted to use the Digital Services Act (DSA) to report the app directly to Apple and Google.
This strategic gambit places the onus on the platform gatekeepers to act on the “unlawful content” notification. The technical justification for this concern is growing; cybersecurity specialists have noted significant data transmission from the app to servers in China. Ivan Tsarynny, CEO of security firm Feroot, told AInvest they observed “direct links to servers and companies in China that are under government control.” As of June 27, Apple, Google, and DeepSeek had not publicly responded to the request.
A Company Stalled by Geopolitics and Internal Issues
This global regulatory assault coincides with a period of profound internal crisis at DeepSeek. The company’s momentum has been completely arrested, with the launch of its highly anticipated next-generation R2 model now “indefinitely stalled.” The delay stems from a two-front crisis: internal disappointment from the CEO regarding the model’s performance and an acute hardware shortage caused by U.S. export controls on advanced Nvidia AI chips.
This is a dramatic reversal of fortune. The current hardware famine is a direct result of U.S. policy designed to hobble China’s AI ambitions, a move that forced Nvidia to take a $5.5 billion charge for unsold inventory, according to a regulatory filing with the SEC. While DeepSeek is stalled, its state-backed domestic competitors are surging to fill the vacuum. This aligns with what a World Economic Forum analysis identifies as a new wave of AI unicorns, including firms like Zhipu AI and Moonshot AI, rising from China’s tightly coordinated tech ecosystem.
The story of DeepSeek’s rapid ascent and potential fall serves as a powerful case study in the modern tech landscape. Its fate is no longer determined by code or market fit alone, but by the unforgiving intersection of national security policy, international data law, and the escalating tech rivalry between Washington and Beijing. For Chinese tech firms with global ambitions, the path forward has never looked more treacherous.
