The deepseek ban has become official US policy. The Department of Homeland Security is ordering the removal of DeepSeek products and third-party services using the Chinese AI model from US civilian agency IT systems, according to a notice published on Monday. The department is also banning the acquisition of DeepSeek products and third-party services developed using the model by civilian government agencies.
DHS said DeepSeek models pose “multiple threat vectors” and raised concerns that use of the product “may result in the transfer of sensitive data to the PRC if used by US government employees or vendors.” The department further warned that use of DeepSeek by government agencies “could produce actionable intelligence on US persons and/or government agencies”, adding that the models themselves “may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities.”
In a July memo made public on Monday, DHS told federal agencies to monitor flows of traffic in and out of government websites to address potential risks from DeepSeek. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment on the order.
DeepSeek Ban Follows Earlier Agency Restrictions
The government-wide order extends restrictions that several agencies had already imposed on their own. The Department of Commerce and the Navy had previously banned the use of DeepSeek on government devices, and multiple states, including New York, Tennessee and Virginia, have taken similar steps. The DHS directive turns those piecemeal measures into a uniform federal policy covering civilian agencies.
According to reports, DeepSeek is also barred from participating in US federal government contracts, closing off the procurement channel entirely. The ban covers not only DeepSeek’s own products but also third-party services built on its models, a wide net designed to catch vendors who may have embedded the Chinese models in their offerings.
DeepSeek Ban Part of Wider Tech Crackdown
The Trump administration has taken a series of steps to crack down on Chinese technology companies. The Federal Communications Commission will vote on 29 October on a proposal to bar all Chinese laboratories from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the US. Last year, 82 per cent of US electronics were tested in China.
In December last year, the FCC banned the import of all new models of Chinese drones and also banned imports of new models of Chinese-made consumer routers, the boxes connecting computers, phones and smart devices to the internet. The DeepSeek order fits the same pattern: treating Chinese technology supply chains as a national security risk rather than a commercial question.
What the DeepSeek Ban Signals for AI Geopolitics
DeepSeek’s low-cost, high-performance models sent shockwaves through the AI industry when they emerged, raising questions about the efficiency gap between Chinese and American labs. Washington’s response has now moved from market competition to outright exclusion from government systems, on the grounds that the data flows the models enable are themselves a security threat.
For the AI industry, the order sharpens the dividing lines. As governments on both sides of the Pacific treat frontier models as strategic assets, the era of globally interoperable AI tooling is giving way to something more fragmented, and more closely watched.
The order was reported by Reuters’ David Shepardson from Washington, citing the DHS notice published on Monday. The ban’s breadth is significant: it covers not only DeepSeek’s own products but also third-party services built on the Chinese models, and DeepSeek is barred from participating in US federal government contracts altogether. Agencies have also been told to monitor traffic flowing to and from government websites, turning network surveillance into a compliance tool.
The move caps a year of escalating technology restrictions. Beyond the 29 October FCC vote on Chinese testing labs and December’s drone and router import bans, the administration has systematically treated Chinese technology supply chains as a national security question. For federal IT vendors, the message is unambiguous: audit your stack for DeepSeek components now, or risk falling foul of the new rules.