As of August 16, 2026, seven states—Texas, New York, Virginia, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Kansas and Georgia—had verified restrictions on DeepSeek in government technology or official state work. Those actions are often described as “DeepSeek bans,” but they generally do not outlaw the service for residents using private devices. The legal effect depends on the order or statute: some cover state equipment and networks, while others also reach personal devices used for state business.
What “outlawed DeepSeek” actually means
A consumer ban would make ordinary residents unable to download or use DeepSeek. The measures identified here are different. They are government controls that may apply to:
- State devices: state-issued laptops, phones, tablets and desktops.
- State networks: government Wi-Fi, firewalls, VPNs and other managed connections.
- Official work: using DeepSeek for state business, even on a personal device where the order covers that conduct.
- Accounts and procurement: creating or maintaining official accounts, or acquiring prohibited technology.
An executive order, agency directive, statute, proposal and political announcement do not have the same legal force. The table below separates confirmed statewide action from proposals and unverified reports.
Confirmed state restrictions
| State | Date and mechanism | What is covered | Private public use? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | January 31, 2025; governor’s prohibited-technologies action | State-owned devices and networks, plus personal devices used to conduct state business. Texas later updated its broader prohibited-technologies list on January 26, 2026. | No blanket prohibition identified. |
| New York | February 10, 2025; statewide government technology directive | Downloading DeepSeek on ITS-managed government devices and networks. | No blanket prohibition identified. |
| Virginia | February 2025; Executive Order 46 | Government-owned or leased devices and government-owned or maintained networks. | No blanket prohibition identified. |
| Oklahoma | March 21, 2025; governor’s state-device ban | State-owned computers and mobile devices. | No blanket prohibition identified. |
| South Dakota | March 4, 2025; administrative action | State devices and use by state employees on personal devices while on state time. | No blanket prohibition identified. |
| Kansas | July 1, 2025; statute §75-4720 took effect | State-issued devices and state-operated networks; agencies must deactivate and delete covered accounts. DeepSeek is expressly included in “AI platform of concern.” | No blanket prohibition identified. |
| Georgia | State foreign-adversary technology list | State equipment and state business. The official guidance excludes personal devices of state employees, K–12 students and the general public. | No blanket prohibition identified. |
Primary sources: Texas governor, Texas 2026 list update, New York governor, Virginia Executive Order 46, Oklahoma governor, South Dakota, Kansas statute and Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.
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Why Kansas matters
Kansas provides the clearest statutory model. Section 75-4720 prohibits state-issued devices and state-operated networks from accessing an “artificial intelligence platform of concern,” requires agencies to deactivate and delete related accounts, and expressly includes DeepSeek and platforms controlled by a listed country of concern. It also contains exceptions for law-enforcement activity and cybersecurity investigations. That approach can continue to apply if a company changes a product name or launches a successor service, rather than relying only on a one-time app listing. The legislative record is available at Kansas HB 2313.
Why governments say they are restricting DeepSeek
Governors, attorneys general and security officials have cited several risks. These are official rationales and assessments, not adjudicated findings that every user’s information has been misused.
- Sensitive-data exposure: Texas cited potential access to critical infrastructure information, intellectual property and personal information.
- Personally identifiable and regulated data: Virginia’s order identifies personally identifiable information, tax data, health records and intellectual property as information that requires protection.
- Foreign-adversary risk: Officials point to Chinese ownership, alleged links or perceived influence by the Chinese government or Chinese Communist Party.
- Surveillance and censorship concerns: States have raised questions about vendor security practices, content controls and where data may be processed.
- Employee error: A consumer chatbot can tempt workers to paste confidential procurement, legal, infrastructure or constituent information into an unapproved service.
Claims that DeepSeek is categorically “spyware,” or that all user data is sent to China, go beyond what these state actions establish. The relevant question for a public employer is whether its policy permits the service and what data controls are contractually and technically available.
What the restrictions mean for residents, workers and students
Can you use DeepSeek at home?
Generally, yes, based on the measures listed above. They target government technology and official work, not a blanket ban on private residents. A private employer, school or local government can impose its own rule, however.
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Can a state employee use a personal phone?
It depends on the wording. Texas reaches personal devices used to conduct state business, and South Dakota covers personal-device use while an employee is on state time. A personal handset is not automatically outside the rule.
Are public universities automatically covered?
No. Coverage depends on the order and the institution’s implementation. Virginia Tech, for example, describes restrictions on state-managed and university networks at its implementation page. Do not assume every public university in every state is covered without checking its policy.
Does a local or third-party model avoid a ban?
Not necessarily. Hosted websites and mobile apps are only one form of DeepSeek access; APIs, third-party hosting and downloadable model weights create different technical paths. A locally run model may avoid sending prompts to a hosted service, but software downloads, updates, telemetry, logging, endpoint security and the legal definition of a covered platform still require review. Kansas’s broad language also makes third-party deployments a live compliance question.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Proposals and reports that are not confirmed statewide bans
Florida
Florida’s governor proposed prohibiting state and local agencies from using DeepSeek and other Chinese-created AI tools. The cited announcement is a proposal, not proof of an enacted statewide ban. See the Florida announcement.
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Federal bills
H.R. 1121, introduced February 7, 2025, and S. 765, introduced February 27, 2025, would restrict DeepSeek on federal executive-agency technology. Both were introduced and referred to committees in the cited records, so they should not be called federal law. The House text is at Congress.gov; the Senate text is at Congress.gov. A separate intelligence-authorization bill also contains DeepSeek language: H.R. 5167.
Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Oregon
A Hawaii government task-force packet and draft minutes reported governor-level or departmental restrictions involving these states. Those secondary references do not substitute for the underlying state orders, so they should be treated as reported leads rather than confirmed statewide bans: meeting packet and draft minutes.
Tennessee
Tennessee published a DeepSeek security assessment, but that document is not itself proof of a statewide prohibition: Tennessee assessment.
How to determine whether your workplace is covered
- Read your state’s prohibited-technology, acceptable-use and AI-use policies, not just a headline.
- Check whether the rule covers state-issued hardware, personal devices used for work, state networks, VPNs, cloud accounts or university and school systems.
- Do not enter confidential, personal, health, tax, legal, procurement, law-enforcement or infrastructure information into an unapproved AI service.
- Ask your security, privacy, legal or procurement office whether an approved AI environment exists and what its retention, training, residency and audit settings are.
- Do not bypass a block with a hotspot, VPN, browser extension or alternate app without written authorization.
- If DeepSeek was previously used for official work, preserve records and report the use according to your agency’s incident or records policy.
What could happen next
The trend is broader than a single app. States are building foreign-adversary technology lists and writing rules that can cover successor services, related platforms and official data handling. More restrictions are possible, but each new claim should be classified by its legal status: enacted statute, executive order, agency directive, proposal, political statement or unverified report.
For households, the immediate takeaway is limited: the verified state actions do not generally prohibit private use. For public employees, contractors and educators, technical access is not permission. The controlling document is the applicable state, agency, university or employer policy.
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