ROME, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Italy's data protection

authority said on Tuesday it was seeking answers from Chinese

artificial intelligence (AI) model DeepSeek on its use of

personal data.

The Italian regulator, which is also known as the Garante,

said it wanted to know what personal data is collected, from

which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis, and

whether it is stored in China.

DeepSeek and its affiliated companies have 20 days to

answer, the Garante said in a statement, in one of the first

regulatory moves targeting the Chinese startup.

In the U.S., a White House press secretary said

officials were looking at the

national security implications

of the app.

DeepSeek, which presents itself as a low-cost

alternative to U.S. rivals, sparked a

tech stock selloff

on Monday as its free AI assistant overtook OpenAI's

ChatGPT on Apple's ( AAPL ) App Store in the United States.

Italy's Garante is one of Europe's most active watchdogs

on the use of AI. In 2023 it

briefly banned

the use of Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed ChatGPT in the country

over suspected breaches of EU privacy rules.