The website of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, whose chatbot became the most downloaded app in the United States, has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company that has been barred from operating in the United States,

China has hit back at the Australian government’s banning of DeepSeek on all public sector devices, labelling it “ideological discrimination”.

Australia issued a statement that requires all government entities to prevent the access, use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services on Australian government systems and mobile devices.