DeepSeek has been banned by US institutions.
The United States Department of Homeland Security has officially requested that federal civil administrative agencies cease purchasing products from DeepSeek and its affiliated entities, and remove related products and third-party services developed based on its technology from the IT system.
On October 19th, the US Department of Homeland Security released an "exclusion and removal order" targeting the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek. This order was officially published in the US Federal Register on October 20th, with the document number 2026-21447 and the case file number DHS-2026-0628.
This order does not apply to individual users and private enterprises across the entire United States. Instead, it targets the procurement and IT system management measures of the US federal civil and administrative agencies. The uniqueness of this order lies in the fact that the ban not only covers DeepSeek's official products, but also extends to "third-party products and services that implement solution development using DeepSeek technology", including incorporating the source of the models into the compliance review scope for government procurement.
Procurement exclusion and inventory removal are carried out simultaneously.
The order was issued in accordance with the "Federal Procurement Supply Chain Security Act of 2018" and was signed by Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Marlin on July 24, 2026. However, it was not made public until October 19.
Overall, this order contains two mandatory requirements that take effect immediately:
- Procurement exclusion: The federal civil administrative agencies shall no longer purchase any information technology products and services developed by DeepSeek and its affiliated entities, and shall remove them from all procurement channels such as the agency-approved product list, service provider equipment directory, and electronic procurement platform.
- Stock removal: Each agency must remove all DeepSeek and affiliated products, as well as third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek's technical solutions, from their existing IT systems.
This means that even if an American software company sells AI tools under its own brand to federal agencies, as long as its underlying code calls upon DeepSeek models, the product may still be included in the removal scope. The order transforms "model lineage" into a procurement compliance issue, and suppliers need to trace the models embedded in their products layer by layer.
Scope of Application and Boundaries
This order applies to the United States Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Department of Commerce, Department of Justice, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Communications Commission, and other federal civil and administrative agencies.
However, the following scenarios are not within the direct scope of this order:
The public documents did not disclose specific cases of leaks or technical audit reports. The word "possibly" in the order functioned as a conclusion rather than a modifier.
- The procurement and security management of the Ministry of Defense, the intelligence system, and the classified isolation information system are subject to other legal authorities;
- The autonomous use by private enterprises in the United States and ordinary individual consumers;
- Users within China and non-US government procurement scenarios.
The order has established an exemption application mechanism. Institutions can submit written applications for extension or exception. However, the application period is calculated from the date of signing on July 24th and lasts for 60 days. It has expired by the time it was made public on October 19th.
In addition, the Department of Homeland Security has listed three categories of risk assessment in the order's attachment:
- Data leakage risk: The DeepSeek server is located in China. When government employees or contractors use it, sensitive information may be transmitted to China and combined with public data to generate actionable intelligence;
- Personal information collection: During account registration, personal identity information may be collected, which may lead to issues of user tracking and device fingerprint identification;
- Software security vulnerabilities: According to security research, the DeepSeek iOS application has vulnerabilities, and the model itself may also contain malicious software or other security risks.
The public documents did not disclose specific cases of leaks or technical audit reports. The word "possibly" in the order functioned as a conclusion rather than a modifier.
Direct impact on the limited scope
From the perspective of direct financial impact, DeepSeek's revenue exposure in the US federal government is extremely small. Moreover, the order did not include DeepSeek in the Commerce Department's entity list or impose export controls, and it does not constitute a direct blow to its business model. However, the indirect effects should not be underestimated:
- For federal contractors: Due to compliance considerations in contracts, system integrators and cloud service providers who have business dealings with the government may also voluntarily avoid using the DeepSeek technology stack in commercial projects;
- For state and local governments: Several states have already imposed similar restrictions, and this federal order may further enhance the follow-up effect among local governments;
- For the open-source ecosystem: DeepSeek is open-sourced under the MIT license. The ban cannot prevent the global dissemination of weight files, but it will accelerate the market differentiation between Western government-related entities and cost-sensitive developers.
In fact, since the release of the DeepSeek R1 model in early 2025, various departments such as the US Navy and the Department of Commerce have successively banned its use on government equipment; and several states including Texas, New York, and Tennessee have also introduced similar restrictions. The 2026 fiscal year Defense Authorization Act has explicitly prohibited the Department of Defense from purchasing AI systems from specific countries, and named DeepSeek specifically.
On October 20th, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning, while presiding over the regular press conference, said, "China has always opposed the generalization of national security concepts and the politicization of technology and trade issues. We will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises."
Overall, the actual clearance scope of this order is limited, but the supply chain security signal it releases may have a more far-reaching impact on the access pattern of AI technology in the global government market than the ban itself.
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