The FCC's Retroactive Ban Power Gets Its First Test Run on DJI's Shell Game

## what happened According to The Verge, the FCC is preparing to use a power it granted itself last October: the ability to retroactively ban gadgets that had already passed its equipment authorization process and been legally imported and sold in the United States. The first targets are companies the FCC suspects of being fronts for DJI, the Chinese drone maker that dominates the consumer and commercial drone market. The backstory: in October, the FCC voted to close what it called a loophole. Devices from companies on its Covered List — a roster of firms deemed national security risks — could previously keep selling if they'd already received authorization, or if the hardware was marketed under a different brand. The new rule lets the agency revoke authorizations after the fact. DJI was added to the Covered List in December, which blocked new DJI products from getting FCC approval. Now the agency is going after the alleged workaround: gadgets that are DJI hardware in everything but the nameplate. The specific companies and products haven't been fully detailed publicly yet. What is clear is the mechanism: gear that cleared review, shipped, and sold legally could be declared contraband years later. ## why it matters Retroactive revocation is a genuinely new tool. Equipment authorization has historically been a gate at the border — pass it, and your product is legal. The October rule change converted that gate into a revolving door. The FCC can now reach backward in time and un-approve devices already sitting in American homes, businesses, police departments, and fire agencies. The national security case against DJI has substance — data routing concerns and Chinese government ties have been documented for years. That's not the issue. The issue is that the enforcement mechanism doesn't care about the merits of any individual case. Once the precedent exists, it applies to whoever the Covered List names next, for whatever reason a future administration finds convenient. ## the shred take **Opinion:** Everyone applauded this authority because the first target was politically easy. "China drone bad" polls well. But read the actual rule: your product cleared every review, got sold legally for years, and now it's contraband because the political weather changed. That's not a security policy, that's a vibes-based recall with no expiration date. The front company problem is real — DJI almost certainly does route hardware through nominally independent brands, and the FCC has legitimate reasons to be annoyed. But the correct fix was tightening the authorization process going forward: beneficial ownership disclosure, supply chain audits, stricter vetting at the gate. Instead, the agency chose the option that maximizes its own discretion and minimizes predictability for everyone else. Every hardware company selling into the US now operates under a silent asterisk: *approval valid until it isn't.* Smaller manufacturers without lobbying budgets will eat that uncertainty hardest. DJI can afford lawyers. The startup building agricultural sensors can't afford to discover in year three that a component supplier landed on a list. ## the prediction By June 2026, at least one non-DJI, non-Chinese electronics maker will publicly cite the FCC's retroactive revocation authority as a factor in delaying or restructuring a US product launch — confidence 60%.