Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on Tuesday that the use of DeepSeek AI, a Chinese-owned competitor to ChatGPT, will be banned on state devices and state-run networks.
“China’s DeepSeek AI poses a threat to the security and safety of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. We must continue to take steps to safeguard our operations and information from the Chinese Communist Party. This executive order is an important part of that undertaking.”
Governor Glenn Youngkin
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In an executive order, Gov. Youngkin banned any state agency from downloading DeepSeek’s application on government-issued devices like state-issued phones, laptops, and other devices that can connect to the internet.
In Executive Order 46, the Governor called back to a previous executive order in which he banned TikTok and other ByteDance-owned properties from being used on state-issued devices.
There have been significant security concerns over the download and use of Chinese-owned technology in America, which developed into a nationwide ban on TikTok that occurred in January. As of Feb. 11, 2025, TikTok is still not available for download in U.S. app stores, but the service is still useable if it was previously downloaded on your device.
