FRANKFURT, June 27 (Reuters) - Germany has taken steps

towards blocking Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from the Apple ( AAPL )

and Google app stores due to concerns about

data protection, according to a data protection authority

commissioner in a statement on Friday.

DeepSeek has been reported to the two U.S. tech giants as

illegal content, said commissioner Meike Kamp, and the companies

must now review the concerns and decide whether to block the app

in Germany.

"DeepSeek has not been able to provide my agency with

convincing evidence that German users' data is protected in

China to a level equivalent to that in the European Union," she

said.

"Chinese authorities have far-reaching access rights to

personal data within the sphere of influence of Chinese

companies," she added.

The move comes after Reuters exclusively reported this week

that DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence

operations.

DeepSeek, which shook the technology world in January with

claims that it had developed an AI model that rivaled those from

U.S. firms such as ChatGPT creator OpenAI at much lower cost,

says it stores numerous personal data, such as requests to the

AI or uploaded files, on computers in China.