Deepseek assists China in its military operations, according to a US official

When it launched in January 2025, DeepSeek caused a real shockwave by claiming that its tools were equal to or superior to those of its American competitors. But recently, a scandal has rocked the company, as a senior State Department official made explosive revelations to Reuters. 

During an interview, the official added: “We understand that DeepSeek has willingly provided and will likely continue to provide support to China's military and intelligence operations.” Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official went on to say: “This effort goes above and beyond open-source access to DeepSeek's AI models.” 

In light of this revelation, which comes amid a trade war between the United States and China, the official stated that DeepSeek shared user information and statistics with the help of Beijing's surveillance apparatus. And that's not all, as Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft offer DeepSeek to their customers, raising serious concerns about data leaks. 

Regarding how this is done, US lawmakers explain that DeepSeek transmits American data to China through a backend infrastructure connected to China Mobile, a Chinese telecommunications company owned by the government.

In addition, the company is referenced more than 150 times in the procurement files of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and other entities affiliated with China's defense industrial base. The official also said that DeepSeek allegedly used various methods to circumvent export restrictions in order to access advanced chips manufactured in the United States. 

It should be noted that this company has significant access to Nvidia's data. However, given the restrictions currently in place, China is suspected of having remote access to US chips. Furthermore, US officials have not yet blacklisted DeepSeek and have not claimed that Nvidia was aware of the collaboration between this company and the Chinese military. As such, further investigations will take place in the coming days and new revelations may come to light.