Microsoft employees are banned from using the DeepSeek app due to concerns over data security and potential exposure to Chinese propaganda, according to Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith, who testified before a Senate hearing on May 8, 2025.
Smith stated that Microsoft does not allow its employees to use DeepSeek’s application service, available on both desktop and mobile platforms, citing risks associated with data storage in China and the potential for DeepSeek’s responses to be influenced by “Chinese propaganda.”
DeepSeek’s privacy policy confirms that user data is stored on Chinese servers, subject to Chinese law, which requires cooperation with the country’s intelligence agencies. The company also heavily censors topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese government.
Microsoft has not listed DeepSeek in its app store, a decision rooted in the same concerns. This move marks one of the first public acknowledgments by Microsoft of restrictions on the app, although numerous organizations and countries have imposed similar bans.
Despite these concerns, Microsoft offered DeepSeek’s R1 model on its Azure cloud service earlier this year, shortly after it gained popularity. This offering differs from providing the DeepSeek chatbot app directly, as the open-source nature of DeepSeek allows users to download the model, host it on their own servers, and provide it to clients without sending data back to China.
However, this approach does not mitigate all risks, such as the potential for the model to spread propaganda or generate insecure code. Smith revealed during the Senate hearing that Microsoft had internally modified DeepSeek’s AI model to remove “harmful side effects,” though details of these modifications were not disclosed.
Microsoft initially stated that DeepSeek underwent “rigorous red teaming and safety evaluations” before being made available on Azure. The decision to ban DeepSeek’s app, but not all competitor chat apps, raises questions about Microsoft’s app store policies, particularly given that Perplexity is available in the Windows app store.
Notably, apps from Microsoft’s competitor Google, including the Chrome browser and Google’s chatbot Gemini, were not found in the Windows app store during a search.
