Microsoft has stopped its workers from using the DeepSeek app, raising concerns over where data is stored and the kind of information users might receive.
This was shared during a Senate hearing in the United States by Brad Smith, who serves as the company’s president and vice chairman.
The app, which runs on both phones and computers, is not allowed on Microsoft’s internal platforms or even listed in its app store.
The company said the main reason for this decision is tied to the fear that user data may end up stored in China, and that the app’s replies may be shaped by the Chinese government.
DeepSeek’s privacy rules state that it keeps data on servers located in China.
This means the information is subject to that country’s rules, which include giving access to state agencies when required.
The app also filters out topics considered sensitive by the Chinese authorities, something critics believe affects the truthfulness and balance of its responses.
Although Microsoft made DeepSeek’s R1 model available on its Azure cloud system after it gained attention earlier this year, the company insisted that this setup is different.
Since DeepSeek’s core system is open-source, anyone can host it on their own servers and avoid sending data back to China.
However, experts warned that this does not remove all risks. Even when hosted outside China, the model may still generate biased responses or produce unsafe code.
Brad Smith explained during the hearing that Microsoft worked on the model to remove features it considered harmful.
Details on exactly what was done were not shared, but the company said it tested DeepSeek thoroughly before allowing any part of it to run on Azure.
DeepSeek is one of many AI chat tools, and it competes directly with Microsoft’s own Copilot service.
Still, Microsoft hasn’t blocked every rival tool. Some, like Perplexity, can be found in its app store. However, others, especially those linked to Google such as Chrome or Gemini, did not show up in a recent store search.
