Germany Forces Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOGL) to Pull DeepSeek AI Amid Data Privacy Firestorm

Tech giants hit with regulatory hammer—again.

German authorities just dropped the axe on Apple and Google, demanding immediate removal of DeepSeek AI from their platforms. No compromises, no grace period. Another privacy showdown goes global.

Behind the ban: Unchecked data harvesting.

Sources suggest Berlin won’t tolerate opaque AI data practices—especially when they involve EU citizens. The move follows mounting pressure from watchdog groups calling US tech firms 'data colonizers.'

Market impact? Barely a blip.

AAPL and GOOGL shares barely twitched—because when you’re worth $3 trillion combined, what’s another regulatory slap? Meanwhile, crypto-native AI projects are laughing all the way to the decentralized ledger.

Final thought: If compliance were profitable, Silicon Valley would’ve perfected it by now.

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Berlin data protection commissioner Meike Kamp has warned Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet-owned Google (GOOGL) that having DeepSeek on their app stores constitutes illegal content because it exposes users’ data to Chinese authorities.

Ignored Request

“Chinese authorities have far-reaching rights to access personal data,” Kamp said. “DeepSeek users don’t have enforceable rights and effective legal remedies available to them in China, like they’re guaranteed in the European Union.”

DeepSeek previously ignored a May request to either pull its app from app stores in Germany or put in place safeguards when collecting local users’ data and transmitting it to China.

After the Chinese app ignored requests to comply, the Berlin agency has thus invoked a provision of the EU’s Digital Services Act, which puts the onus on tech platforms like Apple and Google to take down illegal content on their platforms.

They both must now quickly decide on how to comply, according to Kamp.

Regulatory Pressure

The regulator could have also fined DeepSeek but Kamp believed this WOULD not be enforceable in China.

DeepSeek rocked the U.S. AI sector and markets back in January with its lower-cost but just as effective R1 large language model.

Along with concerns over what this meant in the evolving AI race between the U.S. and China—which is investing heavily in the sector—have come security concerns over data protection and privacy.

DeepSeek has already been removed from the App Store and Google Play in Italy and Ireland. In the U.S. a senior State Department official recently claimed that the company is actively aiding China’s military and intelligence operations, while working around U.S. export controls to access restricted high-end AI chips.

Lawmakers in Washington are preparing bipartisan legislation that would ban federal government agencies from using DeepSeek and other AI tools from foreign adversaries.

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