Chinese Dronemaker DJI Obscured is Chinese Government Funding Reports Show 

In October, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr participated in a China Tech Threat panel where he announced the agency will commence a process to add Chinese dronemaker DJI to the agency’s “Covered List” of restricted equipment producers. Calling DJI a “Huawei on wings,” Carr cited the vast amounts of information collected by drones and how DJI controls about a 50 percent share of the U.S. drone market and 70 percent of the global consumer and enterprise drone market. 

Following that, the U.S. Treasury Department added DJI, along with several other Chinese companies, to the investment blacklist in December due to DJI’s role in tracking and surveilling religious minorities in China, particularly the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.   

Now, a new report by the Washington Post now reveals that DJI obscured its Chinese government funding while claiming that Beijing had not invested in the firm. The story follows the review of company reports and analysis by the IPVM research group. 

IPVM has recently been in the news for its record of published investigations on how Hikivision and Dahua technology are being used to support the surveillance and internment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, thus deeming them a national security risk by the FCC and subject to the revocation of FCC equipment authorizations.  

Charles Rollet, the IPVM analyst who uncovered the links between DJI and the Chinese government investments told the Washington Post, “DJI has been saying they have no Chinese government investments. This evidence directly contradicts that.” 

Commissioner Carr said the new reports, which highlight the ongoing use of DJI’s technology in the Xinjiang region, are “deeply concerning.”