DeepSeek R1 faces ban amid spying allegations: DeepSeek R1, a Chinese AI model that gained rapid popularity in a very short span has now been banned over allegations of sending user data to China. The AI tool, which made waves in Silicon Valley last week has been flagged due to security risk by US authorities. It was Texas Governor Greg Abbott who officially blocked the platform from being used on any government devices, after witnessing the national security concerns.
Earlier, there have been calls to restrict Chinese AI tools due to data privacy risks- just like to old times.
Texas bans more Chinese apps
Apart from DeepSeek R1, Texas has further banned Xiaohongshu, RedNote and Lemon8, which have been labelled as potential threats. Governor Abbott further stated that these platforms are allegedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and it could compromise critical US infrastructure.
The decision follows the fear that China is using AI and social media to extract sensitive user data.
Xiaohongshu: The new TikTok rival?
Following TikTok’s near-ban during the Trump administration, Xiaohongshu (a Chinese social networking and e-commerce platform) has emerged as a strong alternative for American users.
This Chinese app, which boasts around 300 million daily active users is already popular in China, Malaysia and Taiwan. However, US authorities are now closely monitoring its operations due to growing security concerns.
China faces repeated data theft allegations
The banned app Lemon8 (a popular social media platform) which belongs to TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance- has already been accused of misusing user data.
As Texas takes this bold step, other US states may soon follow suit, which will lead to a wider crackdown on Chinese apps and AI tools.
Meanwhile, US startup Perplexity AI has also been accused of data theft through DeepSeek R1. However, Perplexity CEO Arvind Srinivas has assured users that their data will remain secure in US and UK-based data centres.
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