TP-Link is facing more legal troubles in the US as Florida and three other states filed lawsuits alleging that it lied to consumers about its connections to China and the risks of its routers being exploited by Chinese state hackers.
The lawsuits were filed about six months after the Federal Communications Commission announced a sweeping ban on consumer-grade routers produced wholly or partly outside of the US. Numerous router makers have obtained exemptions to the ban, but the Trump administration so far has not granted one to TP-Link.
Router makers that received exemptions include Netgear, Asus, Adtran, Amazon and its Eero subsidiary, Calix, Nokia, SpaceX’s Starlink division, and others. For now, TP-Link is unable to sell its latest Wi-Fi 8 routers in the US, though models approved before the ban can still be sold.
The state lawsuits claim that TP-Link misled US consumers by telling them its routers are safe. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Chinese state-sponsored hackers exploited TP-Link routers in American homes and sought injunctions, restitution, and penalties. Republican AGs in Montana, Iowa, and Nebraska filed parallel suits with nearly identical language.
TP-Link moved headquarters to California in October 2024. Corporate affairs officer Steve Kovsky called the suits false-premise and said US-sold devices are manufactured in Vietnam and the company is independent of foreign government control.
Uthmeier disputed Vietnam assembly claims, citing Bloomberg reporting that aside from 0.5% of component value sourced in Vietnam, other components are imported from China. Suits also cite GRU exploitation of TP-Link vulnerabilities and undisclosed ties to a Chinese military contractor.
TP-Link’s FCC exemption request remains pending; the company says existing products remain on sale while new products go through standard approval. FCC process requires DoD or DHS national-security determinations and US manufacturing plans.