Homeland Security bans DeepSeek use in federal civilian agencies

The Department of Homeland Security has ordered US federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products from their systems and prevent their use. It cited risks that sensitive information about government employees and contractors could be transferred to the Chinese government, as well as possible malware or security vulnerabilities.

The restriction covers agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Communications Commission, and bars DeepSeek from federal contracts. It followed the release of the company’s V4.1-Flash-1017 model, which DeepSeek described as smarter, faster and more efficient. US lawmakers had also proposed banning its chatbot from government devices last year.