After
moving
to
ban
TikTok
in
the
US,
the
federal
government
could
target
the
China-based
DJI
next.
A
report
from
The
New
York
Times
highlights
a
bill
advanced
by
the
House
of
Energy
and
Commerce
Committee
last
month
that
could
ground
DJI’s
fleet
of
drones
across
the
country.
If
passed,
the
Countering
CCP
Drones
Act
would
add
DJI
drones
to
the
FCC’s
list
of
equipment
covered
by
the
Secure
and
Trusted
Communications
Networks
Act
of
2019.
This
bars
communications
equipment
or
services
that
“pose
a
national
security
risk”
from
running
on
US
networks.
It
also
prevents
companies
from
using
federal
funding
to
purchase
banned
equipment.
Chinese
companies
such
as
Huawei
and
ZTE
are
already
included
on
the
FCC’s
list.
Rep.
Elise
Stefanik
(R-NY)
first
introduced
the
Countering
CCP
Drones
Act
in
2022.
She
tells
the
NYT
that
government
agencies
have
found
that
DJI
provides
information
about
“critical
infrastructure”
in
the
US
to
China.
“DJI
presents
an
unacceptable
national
security
risk,
and
it
is
past
time
that
drones
made
by
Communist
China
are
removed
from
America.”
The
government
has
already
taken
action
against
DJI
before.
In
2020,
the
US
Department
of
Commerce
put
DJI
on
its
Entity
List,
preventing
US-based
companies
from
exporting
technology
to
DJI.
The
US
Treasury
later
added
DJI
to
its
Chinese
Military-Industrial
Complex
list
over
reports
its
drones
are
used
to
surveil
China’s
Muslim
Uyghur
minority,
while
the
Department
of
Defense
put
DJI
on
a
blacklist
of
its
own
in
2022.
In
a
blog
post
published
in
March,
DJI
says
the
lawmakers
backing
the
legislation
“continue
to
reference inaccurate
and
unsubstantiated
allegations
regarding
DJI’s
operations,
and
have
amplified
xenophobic
narratives.”
The
company
also
says
DJI
hasn’t
“engaged
in
activities
that
violate
or
abuse
human
rights”
but
notes
that
it
doesn’t
have
“control
over
how
our
products
are
used.”
Scrutiny
of
Chinese-made
products
has
only
ramped
up
in
recent
weeks.
On
Wednesday,
President
Joe
Biden
signed
a
bill
that
will
ban
TikTok
from
operating
in
the
US
unless
its
Chinese
parent
company,
ByteDance,
divests
the
app
in
nine
months.
The
House
could
vote
to
move
forward
with
the
Countering
CCP
Drones
Act
in
the
next
month
or
so,
according
to
the
NYT.
(Originally posted by Emma Roth)
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