House lawmakers are introducing legislation Thursday to ban the Chinese AI DeepSeek from U.S. government devices, arguing that the software is “directly linked to the Chinese Communist Party” and poses a “five-alarm national security fire.”
The bipartisan legislation, titled “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act,” is being led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., who are both members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It comes after Congress banned TikTok on government devices during the Biden administration over similar data-sharing concerns.
The proposed ban is based on new research highlighting how “DeepSeek’s code is directly linked to the Chinese Communist Party, with the capability to share user data with China Mobile,” a company “owned by the Chinese government and with close ties to the Chinese military [that] has been banned by the Federal Communications Commission for use in the United States,” according to a statement from Gottheimer’s office.
“The Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that it will exploit any tool at its disposal to undermine our national security, spew harmful disinformation, and collect data on Americans. Now, we have deeply disturbing evidence that they are using DeepSeek to steal the sensitive data of U.S. citizens,” Gottheimer said. “This is a five-alarm national security fire.”
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“The national security threat that DeepSeek — a CCP-affiliated company — poses to the United States is alarming. DeepSeek’s generative AI program acquires the data of U.S. users and stores the information for unidentified use by the CCP,” added LaHood. “Under no circumstances can we allow a CCP company to obtain sensitive government or personal data.”
DeepSeek did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from FOX Business.
The research both lawmakers cited as allegedly exposing DeepSeek’s ties to the Chinese government was carried out by Feroot Security, a Canadian cybersecurity company, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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On the web version of DeepSeek, researchers found hidden code on the login page that has connections to computer infrastructure owned by China Mobile, the Associated Press reported.
“It’s hard to believe that something like this was accidental. There are so many unusual things to this. You know that saying ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire’? In this instance, there’s a lot of smoke,” Ivan Tsarynny, the CEO of Feroot Security, told the AP.
“The implications of this are significantly larger because personal and proprietary information could be exposed,” he added. “It’s like TikTok but at a much grander scale and with more precision. It’s not just sharing entertainment videos. It’s sharing queries and information that could include highly personal and sensitive business information.”
Gottheimer’s office said “Americans are sharing highly sensitive, proprietary information with DeepSeek — contracts, documents, and financial records,” and “In the wrong hands, this data is an enormous asset to the CCP, a known foreign adversary.”
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