Texas AG sues TP-Hyperlink over purported connection to China

Texas is suing Wi-Fi router maker TP-Hyperlink for deceptively advertising and marketing the safety of its merchandise and permitting Chinese language hacking teams to entry Individuals’ units, Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton has announced. Paxton initially began looking into TP-Link in October 2025. Texas Governor Greg Abbott later prohibited state staff from using TP-Link products in January of this yr.

TP-Hyperlink is not owned by a Chinese language firm and its merchandise are assembled in Vietnam, however Paxton’s lawsuit claims that as a result of the corporate’s “possession and supply-chain are tied to China” it is topic to the nation’s information legal guidelines, which require corporations to adjust to requests from Chinese language intelligence businesses. The lawsuit additionally says that firmware vulnerabilities in TP-Hyperlink’s {hardware} have already “uncovered tens of millions of customers to extreme cybersecurity dangers.”

Engadget has requested TP-Hyperlink to touch upon the Texas lawsuit and Paxton’s claims. We’ll replace this text if we hear again.

TP-Hyperlink was reportedly being investigated on the federal stage in 2024 after its units have been linked to the huge “Salt Typhoon” hack that accessed information from a number of US telecom corporations. Regardless of all indicators pointing to the federal authorities getting ready to ban TP-Hyperlink in 2025, Reuters reports that the Trump administration paused plans to ban the corporate’s routers in early February, forward of a gathering between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping.