Chinese drone manufacturer, DJI, could become the next target of a US federal crackdown on Chinese-owned technology. A bill advanced by the House of Energy and Commerce Committee last month seeks to add DJI to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) list of banned communications equipment, potentially grounding the company’s widely used drones in the United States.

The Countering CCP Drones Act builds upon the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019, which prohibits communications services deemed a national security risk from operating on US networks and bars the use of federal funds to purchase such equipment. Chinese technology giants like Huawei and ZTE are already blacklisted.

The Act cites allegations that DJI shares information about US critical infrastructure with the Chinese government. Stefanik asserts that “DJI presents an unacceptable national security risk, and it is past time that drones made by Communist China are removed from America.”

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DJI isn’t a newcomer to government scrutiny. In 2020, the US Department of Commerce placed the company on its Entity List, restricting exports of US technology to DJI. Subsequently, DJI has been added to other blacklists for its alleged role in the surveillance of China’s Muslim Uyghur population.

DJI vehemently denies the accusations, calling them “inaccurate and unsubstantiated” and maintaining that the company does not violate human rights. They acknowledge a lack of control over how their products are used.

The rising tide against Chinese technology reached a peak this week with President Joe Biden’s signing of a bill to ban TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, divests the app within nine months. The House could vote on the Countering CCP Drones Act within the next month.

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