The Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, announced on Tuesday (February 17) that a lawsuit has been filed against TP-Link Systems, accusing the company of engaging in deceptive practices in promoting its networking equipment and allowing the Chinese Communist Party to access devices in American consumers’ homes. Paxton stated that this lawsuit sends a clear message to companies with ties to the CCP.
According to a statement released on the Texas Attorney General’s website, this is the first of a series of lawsuits Paxton will file this week. These lawsuits aim to prevent companies associated with the CCP from harming the interests of Texas residents.
Despite TP-Link Systems claiming that its products can protect privacy and security, they have been used by CCP-backed hacker groups to launch multiple cyber-attacks against the United States. Furthermore, TP-Link Systems’ ownership and supply chain are linked to China. Due to these connections, TP-Link Systems is subject to the CCP’s Data Security Law, which mandates Chinese citizens and businesses to support CCP intelligence agencies by disclosing data of American citizens.
“Almost all components of TP-Link Systems’ products are imported from China, and the company intentionally misled Texas residents about the origin, privacy protection, and security performance of their network equipment. This behavior is not only illegal but also poses a national security threat, enabling clandestine monitoring and exploitation of Texas consumers,” the statement said.
“My office is taking coordinated actions this week against companies associated with the CCP to send a clear message: in the Lone Star State, we will always prioritize the interests of Texas and the United States. TP-Link will face comprehensive legal consequences for putting the safety of Americans at risk. Hopefully, this will serve as a clear warning to Chinese entities attempting to compromise American security,” Paxton said.
This lawsuit comes after Paxton announced an investigation into TP-Link Systems in October 2025.
TP-Link Systems is a router manufacturer based in California. The company split from the Chinese company TP-LINK Technologies in 2022.
Due to its affordable prices, TP-Link routers hold about 65% of the market share in home and small business routers in the United States. It is also the preferred router brand on the e-commerce platform Amazon and provides network communication services to the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal government agencies. Following a series of attacks on routers, bipartisan members of the U.S. Congress grew more concerned about security vulnerabilities in TP-Link routers, fearing that they could be easily infiltrated by CCP hackers to attack U.S. networks. In May last year, over a dozen Republican lawmakers, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, called for a ban on the sale of TP-Link products.