Amid the Federal Communications Commission’s DJI ban in the US, speculation has run rampant over several lookalike companies offering products with eerily similar specifications. But recent documents suggest that the FCC is investigating several companies under suspicion of bringing components of the banned tech into the US.
DJI and all foreign-made drones were placed on the FCC Covered List in December 2025, effectively barring future models from getting the necessary approval to be sold in the US. Now, recent communications from the FCC reveal that the organization has been investigating companies such as Xtra over allegations of using part of the banned technology.
The FCC has been investigating Xtra and other companies since March 2026, but they have not responded to the Commission’s requests, sparking a proposed $25,000 (approximately £18,600 / AU$35,800) fine over failure to respond.
The investigation stems from an article published in The Verge in October 2025, which claimed that Xtra’s line of products contained “exact hardware copies” of DJI’s products.
(While that article came before the FCC ban, DJI was already under threat at that time over legislation requiring the company to pass a security review. Such a review never happened.)
The article isn’t the only factor that sparked the FCC investigation, as the organization is now looking into several companies after a security researcher developed a program to detect hardware copies of the communications equipment listed on that Covered List.
The full list of companies that the FCC has now sent investigation letters to and subsequently fined for failing to respond includes Cogito Tech, Fikaxo Technology, Lyno Dynamics, Skyhigh Tech, Spatial Hover, SZ Knowact Robot, WaveGo Tech, and Xtra Technology.
On July 10, the FCC sent several notices proposing $25,000 penalties for failing to respond to the FCC’s request for more information.
The letters detail only a proposed fine and do not make any moves to place those companies next to DJI on the Covered List. However, the letters clearly suggest that the FCC is looking into whether any brands have ties to DJI’s communications technology.
All foreign-made drones have been placed on the FCC-covered list, so even DJI lookalikes from another brand won’t help unless that brand manufactures in the US.
But, the Covered List specifically calls out DJI, preventing all DJI’s future products from getting FCC approval – including action cameras and the popular Pocket gimbal cameras, not just DJI drones.
“[T]he Commission has a duty to investigate allegations involving potential statutory and regulatory violations and will not tolerate a failure to respond to investigative inquiries, particularly when an investigation may involve risks to national security,” the FCC letter to Xtra reads.
Those named companies have 30 days to either pay the fine or file a statement seeking a delay or cancellation, but also have just 10 days to respond to the FCC’s request for information.
While the letters are, for now, only part of an investigation into whether or not those companies use DJI technology, the investigation suggests that the FCC won’t allow even borrowed DJI components from another brand to enter the US.
Xtra – whose About page lists a Delaware location – offers both action cameras and gimbal cameras.
DJI has filed a lawsuit to fight the FCC ban; legal proceedings are still ongoing.
You may also like
I asked DJI all my biggest questions about what the FCC ban means. Or, read about the best action cameras.
