On February 17, 2026, Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas, announced that a lawsuit had been initiated against the Chinese company TP-Link Systems. He accused the company of engaging in deceptive marketing practices for its network equipment and of enabling China to gain unauthorized access to U.S. consumer devices. According to Texas authorities, TP-Link products have been implicated in multiple cyberattacks, thereby posing a significant threat to national security.

Previously, in January 2026, Texas had already implemented a ban prohibiting state government employees from utilizing TP-Link products. Meanwhile, the Trump administration had temporarily suspended a proposed ban on the sale of TP-Link products within the United States. In response to these allegations, TP-Link refuted the claims as baseless. The company emphasized that its core operations and infrastructure are firmly established in the United States, and that user data is securely stored on Amazon cloud servers.

China has consistently expressed its opposition to the United States' suppression of Chinese companies under the guise of national security concerns.