Queensland, Western Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory have become the latest state and territory governments to ban the use of DeepSeek on government devices.
They join South Australia and NSW which had initiated earlier bans.
The moves come as a response to a directive issued by Canberra banning federal public servants from accessing and installing the China-developed artificial intelligence app over national security concerns.
Queensland
Queensland has now released its own policy related to DeepSeek which “prohibits the access, use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services on any government provided information and communication technology (ICT) services, facilities and devices.
“This includes but is not limited to smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops.”
Queensland agencies have now been ordered to remove all existing instances of DeepSeek and “prevent the access, use or installation” of the applications and web browsers on public servants’ devices.
“Agencies can use capabilities of their fleet management platforms to identity, remove and prevent future installation of the DeepSeek applications on Queensland government devices,” the policy states.
“Gateway and internet filtering products can be configured to restrict access to the DeepSeek web services.”
Western Australia
Meanwhile, the WA Office of Digital Government told iTnews it has “issued a cyber security direction to all WA government entities to prevent access, use or installation of DeepSeek products on all government devices, including mobile phones, tablets and computers”.
This, a spokesperson said, is “in line with advice from the Department of Home Affairs” to restrict “the use of DeepSeek products in the public sector”.
iTnews understands other large-language AI products such as ChatGPT are exempt from this ban.
DeepSeek’s AI assistant and underlying DeepSeek-V3 model have captured global attention in the month or so it’s been available.
However, the development of the model in China and its data collection policy is leading to security concerns.
Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
An ACT government spokesperson told iTnews that it had banned DeepSeek on all government devices, effective February 10.
“Staff are in the process of being notified that they will be unable to access DeepSeek products, applications and web services,” the spokesperson said.
Northern Territory
An NT government spokesperson said it “aligns cyber security policy to the Australian government where appropriate.”
“The NT government has implemented a cyber security policy to prevent the access, use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services on NT Government systems and mobile devices,” the spokesperson said, adding a ban “has been applied across the NT government.”
NSW
NSW was reported by Information Age to be the first Australian government entity to ban DeepSeek last week.
In a statement, seen by iTnews, the NSW Department of Customer Service said it had chosen to “restrict corporate access to DeepSeek AI, consistent with the approach taken for many new and emerging applications, systems and services”.
South Australia
South Australia has also moved to block access to DeepSeek over its network and directed public servants to stop using and remove it from devices.
Not all state and territory governments have indicated they will block or ban DeepSeek.
Tasmania
The Tasmanian Government told iTnews that it is still “considering its position on the platform based on security advice, and advice issued by the Australian government”.
“We are aware of restrictions being imposed on the use of the DeepSeek AI platform by the Australian government and other jurisdictions,” Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Madeleine Ogilvie said.
“For Tasmanian government agencies, the procurement, adoption and development of software and services, including AI-enabled software, are subject to a risk-based approach that is outlined in the Tasmanian government protective security policy framework and implemented in various policies and standards.”
Victoria
Victoria’s Department of Government Services was also contacted about its stance on the technology.