Delhi High Court rejects urgent plea to ban Chinese AI Chatbot DeepSeek

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant an early hearing on a petition seeking a nationwide ban on DeepSeek, an AI chatbot developed by Chinese entities. The court ruled that there was no urgency in the matter and advised users to simply avoid the platform if they found it harmful.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela dismissed the request for an expedited hearing, stating, "There is no compulsion to use such platforms. If it is harmful, don’t use it." The court further emphasized that several similar platforms exist, and users have the choice to stay away from them.

The plea, filed by lawyer Bhavna Sharma, raised concerns about potential cyber threats, including data breaches and the risk of sensitive government and personal data being exposed. The petition highlighted reports of significant security vulnerabilities discovered within a month of DeepSeek’s launch, which allegedly led to the online leakage of chat histories, back-end data, and log streams.

The petitioner had requested the hearing to be moved up from its scheduled date of April 16, citing urgency. However, the court maintained that there was no pressing need for immediate intervention and rejected the request for an early hearing.

Previously, the court had granted time for the Centre’s counsel to gather instructions regarding the case.

With concerns over data security and national cybersecurity risks, the petition urges authorities to block access to DeepSeek across India to safeguard user privacy. However, for now, the matter will proceed on its originally scheduled hearing date.