Popular app DeepSeek has restricted registration of new users

The popular app DeepSeek, which topped the App Store charts in the US, has temporarily stopped accepting new user registrations. The service's official website states that registrations are limited due to “large-scale malicious attacks on DeepSeek services”. Details of the attacks are not being disclosed at this time.

What else is known

The company said that existing users can log in to their accounts without restrictions. The app’s sign-up page says that users are encouraged to try signing up later due to high traffic.

Earlier today, DeepSeek reported system outages that made it difficult to both log in and create new accounts. The company said the issues have since been resolved. The outages were initially thought to be caused by a large influx of new users eager to try out the app, which could rival Western rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude.

In a previous update, the company said that sign-up was temporarily limited to mainland Chinese mobile numbers, but that restriction was later lifted.