Sovereignty incidents — cloud & data
Italian Garante DeepSeek ban (30 January 2025)
Claim
Italy’s data protection authority (the Garante) ordered DeepSeek — Hangzhou DeepSeek AI and Beijing DeepSeek AI — to stop handling Italian users’ personal data after the companies claimed they “did not operate in Italy” and that European rules did not apply. The Garante called the companies’ response “completely insufficient.” The order covered the app-store versions; the website stayed reachable. Authorities in Belgium, Ireland, France, Portugal, and Spain opened their own investigations.
Sources
- Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, press release of 30 January 2025
- Bird & Bird, “The Garante imposes a definitive limitation on the processing of Italian users’ personal data,” 26 February 2025 ↗
- Euronews, “DeepSeek AI blocked by Italian authorities,” 31 January 2025 ↗
Referenced in
- Framework §2
- AI-SAF-N Regulatory pillar
- Refining §3.8