MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's data protection authority, the Garante, said on Thursday it had ordered DeepSeek to block its chatbot in the country after the Chinese artificial intelligence startup failed to address the regulator's concerns over its privacy policy.

The watchdog had questioned DeepSeek this week about its use of personal data, particularly seeking information on what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis and whether it is stored in China.

The Garante's order - aimed at protecting Italian users' data - came after the Chinese companies that supply the DeepSeek chatbot service provided information that "was considered to totally insufficient," the watchdog said in a statement.

DeepSeek had no immediate comment.

The Chinese startup said its newly-launched AI models are on a par or better than industry-leading models in the United States at a fraction of the cost, threatening to upset the technology world order.

Its AI assistant has overtaken rival ChatGPT to become the top-rated free application available on Apple's App Store in the United States.

The Garante added that its order had "immediate effect" and that it had also opened an investigation.

EUROPEAN SCRUTINY

Data regulators in Ireland and France are also questioning DeepSeek over its chatbot's privacy policy.

In its response to the Garante's queries, DeepSeek said it had removed its AI assistant from Italian app stores after its privacy policy was questioned, Agostino Ghiglia, one of the four members of the Italian data authority's board, told Reuters.

Ghiglia said that DeepSeek added it should not be subject to local regulation or the jurisdiction of the Garante, and had no obligation to provide the regulator with any information.

"Not only did DeepSeek's response not give us any reassurance, it worsened their position, and that's the reason we decide to order the block," Ghiglia said.

"If there is no cooperation, DeepSeek will continue to be blocked in Italy", he added.

As of Friday, some Italian users who had previously downloaded the app on their mobile devices said the chatbot was still providing answers. The web version of the service is still operating.

"Citizens have the right to give their consent based on what you do, or do not do, with their data. And servers in China do not offer the guarantees Europe does," Ghiglia said.

Italy's Garante is among the most proactive of the 31 data protection authorities in Europe on the use of AI. Two years ago it briefly banned the use of Microsoft-backed ChatGPT over suspected breaches of EU privacy rules.