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Four states sue TP-Link over what it told router buyers about China
Florida, Iowa, Montana and Nebraska sued TP-Link, saying it misled buyers about router security and its ties to China. For anyone buying routers, the federal ban that already blocks TP-Link's new models from US sale is the constraint that applies now.
The Product Desk
What happened
- The states argue TP-Link never truly cut ties with its Chinese business when it moved its global headquarters to Irvine, California, in 2024.
- The FCC's router ban has exempted Netgear, Asus, Amazon's Eero, Starlink and others, and the Trump administration has not granted TP-Link an exemption.
- Texas filed a similar suit against TP-Link in February that is still pending, with a jury trial scheduled for October 2027.
- PCMag found that Florida's 59-page complaint relies on past news reports and statements and does not appear to cite new information.
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Why it matters
- constraint A state-court win for TP-Link on the Vietnam question would leave the FCC rule untouched, because that rule covers routers made anywhere outside the US, Vietnam included.
- decision Standardizing on TP-Link now means buying pre-ban models with no route to its newer hardware, while exempted rivals can keep selling their current lines.
- cost The money at stake is TP-Link's, through forfeited profits and civil penalties, so a buyer's exposure runs mainly through any injunction on how the routers are sold.
- precedent Because Florida's case rests on public reporting, more states can bring the same claim without investigating the routers themselves, and the count of suits can rise with no new facts.
An IT lead with TP-Link routers in a dozen branch offices reads that four states say the company deceived its buyers. By Monday she has to say what that means for the installed hardware and for the next order. The suits, as reported, go after the company's conduct and its money [10]. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the state is seeking an injunction, restitution for Florida consumers, and financial penalties under Florida law [11].
The federal rule is the part already settled. The FCC announced its ban about six months before the state suits, and it covers consumer routers produced wholly or partly outside the US [7].
The attorneys general talk about national security. "Chinese state-sponsored hackers exploited TP-Link routers sitting in American living rooms," Uthmeier said [5]. The claim they filed is narrower: unfair and deceptive trade acts under state consumer-protection law [2].
The Vietnam dispute matters to that claim. In a video, Uthmeier said it is "fiction" that TP-Link builds its routers in Vietnam [20]. "Research and manufacturing remain rooted in China. Less than 1% of the parts in that Vietnam plant actually come from Vietnam," he said, alluding to a November 2025 Bloomberg report, according to PCMag [20]. TP-Link says it gave state regulators documents showing that "TP-Link Systems devices sold in the US are manufactured in Vietnam" [21]. Both statements can be true at once. One is about where the router is made, the other about where its parts come from.
Florida's complaint cites a statement by former NSA Director of Cybersecurity Rob Joyce, an earlier Microsoft report on hacked TP-Link routers, and the Pentagon's classification of TP-Link Technologies as affiliated with China's military [14][15]. It also quotes a June 2026 Glassdoor review by a former employee and points to TP-Link's 2024 sustainability report on R&D sourcing in China [16]. Joyce had said "TP-Link routers were among the various brands exploited by Chinese state-sponsored hackers in the massive Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon attacks" [4]. TP-Link said at the time that the hackers went after vulnerable routers of all kinds [12].
"The coordinated lawsuits are built on false premises," said Steve Kovsky, TP-Link's corporate affairs officer [6]. In Texas, which sued first, Attorney General Ken Paxton's office filed an amended petition last month for a temporary and permanent injunction [17]. Counting Texas, five states now have consumer cases open against TP-Link [19].
For the person signing the order, the decision splits on two lines: whether the router is installed or still a purchase, and whether the constraint is in force or still argued. New purchase, in force: the FCC rule, under which only TP-Link models approved before the ban can be sold [9]. New purchase, argued: a court order on how TP-Link sells, which Texas is asking for ahead of trial [17]. Installed, in force: no reported remedy is aimed at routers already in place [10][11]. Installed, argued: restitution, which Florida wants for its own consumers [11].
I'd keep the installed TP-Link units running on current firmware and buy new sites from a maker holding an FCC exemption. The tradeoff is a switching cost paid now against a ban TP-Link could still win an exemption from [8].
What to watch
- An FCC exemption for TP-Link would reopen sales of its newest routers and leave the state cases as the only open constraint on buying them.
- A temporary injunction in Texas, where Paxton's amended petition asks for one, would show whether states can change how TP-Link sells routers before any trial.
- Complaints from Iowa, Montana or Nebraska that add evidence beyond the past reports PCMag found in Florida's filing would change how strong these cases look.