Kathmandu-Microsoft has officially banned employees from using the DeepSeek app, citing serious concerns over data security and Chinese propaganda. The decision was revealed by Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith during a U.S. Senate hearing.

“We don’t allow our employees to use the DeepSeek app,” Smith stated, referring to both its desktop and mobile versions. He also confirmed that Microsoft has intentionally left DeepSeek out of its app store due to these concerns.

Smith explained that the core issue lies in where DeepSeek stores its user data — on servers located in China. Under Chinese law, companies must cooperate with government intelligence agencies, raising red flags about user privacy. DeepSeek’s censorship of politically sensitive topics has further fueled criticism.

This is Microsoft’s first public acknowledgment of its internal DeepSeek ban, though other organizations and countries have also restricted its use.

Interestingly, despite these concerns, Microsoft had briefly hosted DeepSeek’s R1 AI model on its Azure platform earlier this year. However, Smith clarified that Microsoft modified the model to reduce “harmful side effects” before making it available.

DeepSeek is open source, which means its AI model can be downloaded and used independently — potentially without sending user data to China. Still, the risk of biased or insecure outputs remains.

Notably, while Microsoft blocks DeepSeek’s chatbot app, it hasn’t banned all AI chat competitors. Perplexity is listed on the Windows store, although apps from Google — like Chrome or Gemini — are missing.