This is not a DJI ban.

Vic Moss · Dec 18, 2020

Hey all, I've been going crazy with calls and such about U.S. Commerce Department's placement of DJI on their Entity List.

Haye (as usual) took the time to get it right instead of trying to get it first. If you read any story that says it is some kind of ban, and will affect U.S. drone buyers, it is an inaccurate article.

At worst, this could disrupt a Chinese company's supply chain if they're on this list, and they source components from U.S. manufacturers.

Here is Haye's article: Commerce department add DJI to its economic blacklist | DroneXL.co

CactusJackSlade · Dec 22, 2020

WHAT??!.... FAKE News??! ;-)

Really though, thanks for posting.

Advexure · Dec 22, 2020

Thanks for sharing Vic. Haye has done a great job covering this story since it broke and has done a nice job fact gathering before framing a headline just for clicks. We've also seen and been shared tons of clickbait articles on this story from sources never heard of before. Read from multiple sources and get to know the source and who their sources are!

David Benowitz (ex-DJI) has provided some good insight on the following topics in his article here: DJI Added to the US Entity List – What’s the Impact?

Impacts to Availability of DJI Drone Hardware
Why is DJI on the Entity List?
Will DJI Be Taken Off the List?
What is Next for the Drone Industry?

Advexure · Dec 22, 2020

No official statement or press release from DJI as of yet but this was posted on DJI's Twitter today:

CactusJackSlade · Dec 24, 2020

Like any company, they cannot control what their government does (human abuses). If people really want to worry about "spying" check out the movies "Snowden" or "The Creepy Line"... all about OUR government (and big business) spying on us.

Aerial Edge · Jan 19, 2021

We are running into some issues where federal funds being used, we are being told they are required to make sure DJI drones are not being used due to Federal Government Compliance. There was some requirements that we were having to do. The problem Is smaller companies that do not operate on large amounts of capitol will not have the ease of ditching a platform like DJI and moving to something else. Once again big business prevails over the smaller guys. The other issue is the availability of platforms that are able to replace existing DJI products are really not there. The Blue UAS program is good, but many of the drones on that list are not available yet, or they choose not to sell to small companies. It really is sad to see this, and I have a feeling will put a bunch of the smaller guys out of work.

CactusJackSlade · Jan 21, 2021

Aerial Edge said:
We are running into some issues where federal funds being used, we are being told they are required to make sure DJI drones are not being used due to Federal Government Compliance. There was some requirements that we were having to do. The problem Is smaller companies that do not operate on large amounts of capitol will not have the ease of ditching a platform like DJI and moving to something else. Once again big business prevails over the smaller guys. The other issue is the availability of platforms that are able to replace existing DJI products are really not there. The Blue UAS program is good, but many of the drones on that list are not available yet, or they choose not to sell to small companies. It really is sad to see this, and I have a feeling will put a bunch of the smaller guys out of work.

Perhaps the new Administration will loosen these restrictions a bit. Obviously if there were actual facts and cases proven than China is using their drones to "spy" on us it would be a different story. All I have read were there were "security concerns" but never anything substantial (unless new more recent evidence has been found). I think part of this is to allow US companies to "catch up" but as mentioned, a lot of these companies do not have the recreational or smaller 107 certified drone pilot in mind. My thoughts anyway.