deepseek is number 1 on Apple App Store

Why are security-conscious Apple users willingly giving up all their
privacy to a Chinese app blatantly sharing their information with the
Chinese government?  I thought people chose iPhones for their privacy
characteristics.

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DeepSeek has shocked the U.S. in many ways almost overnight. Seemingly
beating leading Generative AI platforms with a cut-price, open-source,
software-led approach that has taken a sledgehammer to their business
plans. Seemingly running blatant China-friendly censorship in plain
sight, not via a subtle algorithm no-one sees. And seemingly taking
worries about AI’s data privacy risks to a whole new level.

DeepSeek isn’t hiding any of this — far from it. “The personal
information we collect from you may be stored on a server located
outside of the country where you live,” it tells users. “We store the
information we collect in secure servers located in the People's
Republic of China.” As for what that information might be —everything.

“We collect your information in three ways: Information You Provide,
Automatically Collected Information, and Information From Other
Sources.” And that includes personal data when you set up your account,
anything you enter into its platform, including “your text or audio
input, prompt, uploaded files, feedback, chat history, or other content
that you provide to our model and Services.”

But there’s more. “We automatically collect certain information from
you,” DeepSeek says, “including internet or other network activity
information such as your IP address, unique device identifiers, and
cookies… We collect certain device and network connection information…
This information includes your device model, operating system,
keystroke patterns or rhythms, IP address, and system language… Where
you log-in from multiple devices, we use information such as your
device ID and user ID to identify your activity across devices to give
you a seamless log-in experience and for security purposes.”

And now with those U.S. stocks reeling from a surprise DeepSeek hit,
and the Chinese app topping Apple’s App Store, we are firmly out on the
ice. There are all kinds of implications here. AI security in a world
where users cannot help themselves but venture into whatever’s newest
and shiniest. A complete lack of regard for security and privacy when
using AI chat — as was evident before this. And a finger in the dam
moment for Chinese viral apps that won’t be stayed by a TikTok ban or
change of ownership, and clearly needs something more expansive to be
kept at bay.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2025/01/27/warning-deepseek-is-a-chinese-security-nightmare-come-true/