Microsoft prohibits employees from using the DeepSeek app and has not placed DeepSeek in its app store

According to TechCrunch, Microsoft President Brad Smith stated during a Senate hearing that due to data security and promotional content risks, Microsoft has banned employees from using the DeepSeek app service and has not listed it on the app store. Although Microsoft has provided DeepSeek R1 model downloads on Azure, it is limited to open source model deployment and not an official application. Smith also revealed that Microsoft had made "modifications" to the DeepSeek model to remove potentially harmful content.