Can you still use DeepSeek and MiniMax outside China now that China has proposed new AI export rules? China's commerce ministry says that using a restricted large model through an API, an app, the web or lightweight on-device deployment is not covered by its large-model export management, while deploying one locally overseas is. What the rules do cover is the exporter: a company must register listed technology with the ministry before exporting it or licensing it abroad.

What the rules say

The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued Announcement 2026 No. 48 on Oct. 16, 2026. It proposes revising the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export, and public comment is open until Nov. 15. The attachment that lists the technologies is not in the Xinhua copy of the ministry text.

Until the revised catalogue takes effect, a temporary registration applies. From Oct. 16, exporters must register the listed technologies on the ministry's platform before exporting them. Registration covers transferring ownership abroad, licensing domestic technology for overseas use, and changes of foreign control.

What the ministry says is in and out

In its Q&A, the ministry says a company offering a restricted large model through API calls, app or web interaction, SaaS, or lightweight on-device deployment is not within large-model export management. The same answer says that for restricted AI technology, deploying it locally overseas is within technology export management, and that deployment on the exporter's own overseas cloud, where risk is relatively controllable, can use automatic licensing facilitation. It also says most AI technology can still be exported freely once the measures take effect. Technology already in the public domain through open source or academic papers is proposed to be left out of scope.

The ministry names only two examples of what is restricted or banned: AI-driven malicious code generation is prohibited, and AI-assisted vulnerability discovery is restricted.

The DeepSeek and MiniMax claim

The South China Morning Post reports that a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, Yuyuan Tantian, said in a Thursday evening post (Oct. 22, Beijing time) that DeepSeek and MiniMax had completed export registration procedures and proceeded with open-source releases and overseas licensing activities. The post says the revision regulates companies' export conduct, not the technology itself. Bloomberg, citing the same post, reports that much of Chinese AI "will remain free for export".

No regulator names either company, and neither DeepSeek nor MiniMax has commented. The claim comes from that one post, relayed by media.

What no source states

  • Whether anything changed for users outside China. The ministry's Q&A addresses API, app, web and lightweight on-device use only in general terms.
  • When the final catalogue takes effect. No date has been given.
  • Whether any DeepSeek or MiniMax model is on the restricted list. The attachment that lists the technologies is not in the ministry text linked above.

Why it matters

The practical split is between using a model and shipping one. A reader who chats with DeepSeek or calls an API sits on the side the ministry says is outside the rules. A company that deploys a restricted model on its own servers overseas is on the other side: the ministry says that counts as a technology export, though it describes a faster licensing route for some setups. For anything the draft lists as restricted, the exporter has to register before exporting or licensing it abroad, and no source says which models are listed.

DeepSeek is also reportedly under a US federal removal order and has a reported funding round behind it, so export rules are one of several pressures on the company. The comment period runs to Nov. 15, and the draft can still change before it takes effect.