US federal civilian agencies must remove technology from Deepseek
The US Department of Homeland Security has banned federal civilian agencies from using and acquiring technology from Deepseek. They must also remove existing products. The ban also covers affiliated companies and some third-party services.
The US Department of Homeland Security has banned federal civilian agencies from using technology from Deepseek. According to an article by The Decoder citing a report in the Wall Street Journal, agencies must remove existing products from their IT systems and must not acquire new ones.
The order also covers products from affiliated companies and third-party services built on implementations of technology from Deepseek. The precise meaning of this condition remains unclear, including whether the ban applies to services that provide access to models, such as OpenRouter.
The legal basis is a 2018 US law on supply chain security in federal procurement. According to the article, the order neither sets a deadline for removing the technology nor specifies the security reasons for the decision.
Why it matters
The affected agencies must also review services from external suppliers because the ban extends beyond products supplied directly by Deepseek. The unclear scope of the condition covering third-party services makes it difficult to determine which tools must be removed.
What was added since the original report
Verified updates
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Agencies can request an exemption from the ban.; DHS justifies the ban by citing the risk of Chinese authorities gaining access to sensitive data belonging to US government users.
- Agencies can request an exemption from the ban.
- DHS justifies the ban by citing the risk of Chinese authorities gaining access to sensitive data belonging to US government users.
Relevant practical impact
What this means
For a business
For IT suppliers to US federal civilian agencies, the ban limits their ability to supply solutions that use technology from Deepseek. The exact scope of the ban on third-party services remains unclear.
Risks and complianceCheck the original
Event sources
confirmed by 2 independent sources · 2 publishers, 2 independent. We count feeds from the same owner only once.