The tech giant suffered an 11% decline in China sales last quarter, raising concerns about its ability to fend off fierce competition in the country.

Emojis of “DeepSeek pride,” often with smiling cats or dogs, flooded Chinese social media, adding to the festive Lunar New Year atmosphere.

Italy's digital information watchdog called for the government to block DeepSeek, China's new artificial intelligence chatbot after it said its company failed to turn over operation information to regulators.