DJI Urges Customers to Speak Up, Tell the FCC to Stop the Drone Ban

DJI is urging customers to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to remove the Chinese company from the agency’s controversial ban on foreign-made drones.

DJI submitted a formal petition to try to reverse the ban, but in a Facebook post, the drone maker also called on customers to submit online comments to the FCC. “American operators are being left behind—now is the time to speak up,” DJI wrote. “The FCC is now seeking public input on whether to grant that appeal.”

For months, DJI has been fighting the ban, which prevents the Chinese vendor from selling new drone models in the US. Officials here have long had concerns that the Chinese government could use the drones to spy. However, DJI says the restrictions are misguided and unfair, arguing its products are secure and that no evidence of any backdoor has ever been found. 

In February, the company filed a lawsuit with the US Court of Appeals, arguing that the ban violates the Fifth Amendment because it was imposed without giving DJI a chance to challenge the FCC’s security concerns.

DJI also filed a formal “petition for reconsideration” through the commission’s regulatory process in January. The FCC accepted DJI’s petition, kicking off a public commenting process. The period to comment on why DJI’s petition should be opposed ended on April 6. But the comment period for replying to such opposition remains open until Monday, May 11.

Since then, the FCC’s docket on the petition has reached nearly 800 filings, with most coming from consumers, content creators, and business owners urging the commission to reverse the ban. “The truth is simple. The drones that are reliable, accessible, and usable for small businesses like mine are overwhelmingly made by foreign manufacturers. There is no comparable domestic alternative at the same level of quality, reliability, or cost,” wrote one comment filed last month. 

DJI is now trying to rally more affected consumers to the cause; the company’s Facebook post links to a page from the Drone Advocacy Alliance that provides instructions for filing a public comment with the FCC regarding DJI’s petition. 

Another Chinese drone maker, Autel Robotics, also submitted a petition to be removed from the drone ban. Its petition faces the same deadline.  

The FCC’s comment process also solicited public opinion about why the commission should deny DJI and Autel’s petitions. The Pentagon, which helped the White House determine that foreign-made drones were a national security risk, urged the FCC to stand fast. “During the determination process, the [Department of War] was a participant and gave full weight to both classified and unclassified information available to the DoW,” it said. 

The Foundation for American Innovation think tank also told the FCC that, “Chinese law obligates Chinese drone companies to share data stored in China with the government, and encourages backdoors that obfuscate detection of data sharing.” However, DJI maintains that the company “is not controlled by the government and has no ties to the military.”

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

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Experience

I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.

Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

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