US orders DeepSeek removed from civilian agencies' IT systems

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published on 19 October the notice of an order excluding DeepSeek's products from federal civilian agencies' purchases and requiring their removal from agency IT systems, along with third-party services built using DeepSeek. The order is dated 24 July, applies immediately, and agencies can request exceptions within 60 days. It doesn't cover national security systems.

DHS justifies it by pointing to Chinese law, which lets the state access private infrastructure, to the personal data DeepSeek's accounts collect, and to possible malware or vulnerabilities in the models. These are DHS's own assessments. According to Reuters, Commerce and the Navy had already banned it on government devices.