MILAN, Jan 31 (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 ( AAPL ) 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 ( MSFT )-backed

ChatGPT over suspected breaches of EU privacy rules.