DJI is at risk of being banned in the United States. While the US government is taking steps to ban TikTok, it may now target the China-based drone manufacturer DJI. The “Countering CCP Drones Act,” a new bill approved last month by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, could affect DJI’s drone fleet in the United States if it is passed.

DJI drones could be banned in the US

The bill would add DJI drones to the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, which was adopted in 2019. This law prevents equipment or services that could pose a “national security risk” from operating on US networks and prohibits the use of federal funds to purchase banned equipment. Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE are already on this list.

Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) alleged that DJI provided information about US “critical infrastructure” to China. She stated, “DJI poses an unacceptable national security risk, and drones made by Communist China need to be removed from America.”

The US government has previously taken measures against DJI. In 2020, the US Department of Commerce added DJI to the Entity List, banning US-based companies from exporting technology to DJI. Later, the US Department of the Treasury included DJI on the Chinese Military-Industrial Complex list.

DJI denies these allegations, stating that the company does not violate human rights but cannot control how its products are used. However, scrutiny of products made in China has increased in recent weeks, with TikTok’s parent company ByteDance facing a potential ban if it does not divest the app within 9 months.

This bill, reflecting decreased trust in China-origin products in the US, could severely impact DJI’s operations in America. The bill is expected to be voted on in the House of Representatives within the next month.

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