YouTuber and IT trainer David Bombal recently carried out an extensive test to determine whether the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek is deceiving its consumers regarding data protection or not. He used an Ethernet cable to connect his Android phone to the internet and a wiretap to capture the traffic in order to test this. David kept an eye on the data being sent from his device using Wireshark, an application that lets users monitor network traffic.
During the test, he discovered a few very alarming facts related to data privacy. Wireshark demonstrated that 51 packets were being transferred to Beijing, in spite of DeepSeek’s claims that it does not transmit data to China. Subsequent analysis revealed that Alibaba Cloud was also used to transit the data, which raised significant concerns about the company’s data handling practices.
In the video, David clarified that DeepSeek’s statements regarding its privacy policy are clearly at odds with this revelation.
David further said that I’ll need to conduct more tests to determine the exact data sent in these captures. However, here’s what their privacy statement states:
“We automatically collect certain information when you use our services, including internet or network activity details such as your IP address, unique device identifiers, and cookies. We also gather data regarding your usage of the services, such as the features you use and the actions you take.”
However, this post has garnered numerous comments raising concerns about the results of the test.
“It’s a major security issue, and a bill has been introduced in the USA proposing that installing and using DeepSeek could result in up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to one million dollars,” commented a user.
“It is really a cause of serious concern. The fact that lots of individuals signed up for the platform immediately it was released even amplifies the concerns. I hope appropriate regulatory bodies will look into it and do what is right,” wrote another user.
“That is a good test, but it does not prove anything. It was developed in China, and of course it will send traffic there. Also an observation from me is that all information that is put in an AI agent, LLM, etc., is being used and will be used for ads and other purposes. What DeepSeek did was just break the AI bubble, and some scalpers are not happy,” commented a third user.