Summary
Summary
- Montana, Florida, Iowa, and Nebraska sued TP-Link for misleading origin claims and security risks.
- Montana says under 1% of component value is Vietnamese; most parts and R&D trace to China.
- TP-Link calls suits “built on false premises,” but the allegations aren’t proven and could hurt US sales. Your TP-Link Wi-Fi router could be a security risk, and four US states are suing the company over misleading customers about its products’ manufacturing origins. According to the Montana Attorney General’s lawsuit, Florida, Montana, Iowa, and Nebraska each filed complaints against TP-Link on October 6, raising concerns regarding TP-Link’s dependence on Chinese-made parts. With these new cases, legal pressure on TP-Link is at an all-time high. Earlier this year, Texas also sued TP-Link over comparable security and China-related allegations. And the problems with these routers aren’t limited to federal lawsuits about ties to China; TP-Link routers have also been exposed to serious exploits that left them open to cybersecurity attacks. TP-Link’s American identity is under scrutiny But the company says the lawsuits are built on “false premises” As one of the biggest router companies in North America, TP-Link allegedly controls over 60% of the US retail market for Wi-Fi systems and home and small-office routers. Now, Montana has accused the company of making misleading claims about its units’ security and where the products originate. While TP-Link claims its US Products are manufactured in Vietnam, the complaint argues that this is a misleading claim about what the actual supply chain looks like. The complaint states that less than one percent of the components’ value comes from Vietnam, and everything else is imported from or through China. Moreover, it alleges that most of the research, development, and manufacturing operations remain in China. TP-Link responded to these allegations by rejecting the national-security implications. Steve Kovsky, corporate affairs officer, said the coordinated lawsuits were “built on false premises.” The company claims it is an independent US business and is “not owned or controlled by any foreign government.” It also says it will never share customer network data with foreign governments or unauthorized parties. However, its statement doesn’t seem to be directly denying the complaints’ narrower allegation that most parts inside its Vietnam-assembled routers originate in China. None of these allegations have been proven in court yet. Still, for TP-Link, such serious complaints don’t really mix well with new restrictions complicating router sales in the US.