Deepseek Temporarily Limits New Registrations To Only China Phone Numbers, Citing 'large-scale Malicious Attacks'

DeepSeek's AI app topped Apple's App Store rankings for free apps.

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• DeepSeek is limiting who can register for a new account.
• The Chinese AI company cited recent "large-scale malicious attacks" for the temporary registration limits.
• DeepSeek users can still login, the company said.

DeepSeek is limiting who can sign up for its service as the popular Chinese AI app encountered issues on Monday morning.

The app, which is currently the top free app on Apple's App Store, says that only those with China-based phone numbers can register for a new account.

"DeepSeek's online services have recently faced large-scale malicious attacks," the company said in a message on its website. "To ensure continued service, registration is temporarily limited to +86 phone numbers. Existing users can log in as usual."

The chatbot was encountering issues on Monday morning, according to its status page.

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