‘Is DeepSeek the TikTok of AI?’ Asks Former Indian IT Minister 

Chinese AI company DeepSeek has not only disrupted markets and shaken technologists worldwide but also raised concerns over its privacy policy. 

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, former Indian IT minister, took to X to question if DeepSeek was on the path to becoming the next TikTok. His remark hinted at the growing concerns about DeepSeek AI’s potential impact on user data and its broader geopolitical implications.

Responses to his post ranged from mild concerns to those banishing it. Devilal Sharma, an alumnus of IIT Madras, said that since the model is open source, it can be used locally without an internet connection. “Deploy it on your own servers inside your own country, and the data won’t go anywhere,” he said. 

Another opined that this is nothing different from what ChatGPT or any other AI model is doing. “Any company which uses user data and key information, stores in their country may at any time in future make us vulnerable as [a] consumer,” he said. 

In its privacy policy, the company mentions that it collects network connection information, which includes “your device model, operating system, keystroke patterns or rhythms, IP address, and system language”.

“The personal information we collect from you may be stored on a server located outside of the country where you live. We store the information we collect in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China,” read another section of the privacy policy. 

The mention of data being stored in China will certainly raise eyebrows in the Indian government. In 2020, India banned over 50 Chinese applications, including TikTok, which had approximately 200 million users in the country. 

‘World Doesn’t Need’ a TikTok of AI

Five years ago, India’s IT ministry banned these apps due to ‘raging concerns’ about data security and the privacy of the Indian population. The ministry said that it received multiple complaints from citizens, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, and the Computer Emergency Response Team regarding the same. 

“On the basis of these and upon receiving recent credible inputs that such apps pose a threat to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the Government of India has decided to disallow the usage of certain apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile internet-enabled devices,” read a press release from the ministry in 2020. 

These Chinese apps were also said to be banned due to the escalating tensions between India and China. These apps are also barred from government devices in countries like Australia, Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, and a few others. 

Recently, TikTok’s service was also suspended in the United States, owing to a bill signed into law by former American president Joe Biden. Soon after, when Donald Trump took charge, he granted an extension, thereby halting the enforcement of the ban for 75 days. 

“Only safe and trusted AI should be offered to/be available on the global internet to consumers,” Chandrasekhar cautioned. 

“The world doesn’t need and must not enable a TikTok of AI,” he added. 

Will DeepSeek Be Banned in India?

Several users are afraid that DeepSeek might meet a fate similar to TikTok. “One of my worst fears right now is the Indian government banning DeepSeek for being a Chinese product,” said Shlok Khemani, a software developer on X.

Interestingly, the United States Navy has already banned DeepSeek and issued a warning to its members to avoid using DeepSeek for any purpose, whether work or personal. 

DeepSeek is also under scrutiny for avoiding controversial questions about China and for not answering questions about Arunachal Pradesh, an Indian state that is in conflict with China. 

India is likely to take a nuanced approach to dealing with any concerns posed by DeepSeek. A few days ago, the IT ministry drafted the ‘Digital Personal Data Protection Rules 2025’ in order to implement the ‘Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP)’ from 2023. 

“It aims to strengthen the legal framework for the protection of digital personal data by providing necessary details and an actionable framework”, read a press release from the ministry. 

Last year, Chandrasekhar also criticised Google’s AI after it carried negative remarks about India’s Prime Minister. Soon after, the government issued an advisory requiring AI firms to obtain prior permission to make their products available online. However, another advisory soon followed, suppressing the previous one. 

Meanwhile, Chandrasekhar, while a tad sceptical, was also full of praise for the AI model. “This [is] a Chinese company demolishing the assumption that progress in AI and innovation in AI somehow depends upon billions of dollars of compute infrastructure.”

He indicated that this was against the narrative of AI development in the United States, and DeepSeek has shown the big western companies how powerful models can be built at a fraction of the cost. 

DeepSeek’s open-source nature allows it to be hosted on any server. For example, Perplexity offers DeepSeek-R1 on its platform and hosts the model on servers in the United States.

Meanwhile, there may be positive news on the Indo-China bilateral relationship, with both countries agreeing in principle to resume direct flights five years after the COVID-19 pandemic. The foreign ministry also said that the two countries will resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025. 

“The two sides agreed to take appropriate measures to further promote and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, including media and think-tank interactions,” read the announcement.