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Virtual reality headsets, online gaming platform memberships and mini robots top a lot of kids must-have gift lists this year. The smart toy sector, as it's called, is worth close to $17 billion. Some parent and consumer groups say these tech-driven toys are not safe. NPR's Chloe Veltman explains.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: The 2023 naughty list of tech toys that spy, steal and shock includes physical products like the Amazon Echo Dot Kids and VTech's KidiBuzz.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #1: A smart device for fun messaging with friends.
VELTMAN: As well as virtual ones, such as subscriptions to Amazon's Twitch online gaming platform and gift cards to pay for Roblox's in-game currency. Shelby Knox is the online safety campaign director for ParentsTogether, the nonprofit behind the annual tech toy naughty list.
SHELBY KNOX: We don't think that kids should be raised without access to tech, but there is a long track record of seeing kids really hurt by tech products.
VELTMAN: Kids can be hurt in a variety of ways. They can be exposed to bullying, scammers or sexual predators. But Knox says the majority of the products on the naughty list are there because of data security and privacy concerns.
KNOX: Kids' private information is a literal goldmine to these companies because they make money selling data about kids to online advertising firms.
VELTMAN: In 2018, for example, the Federal Trade Commission fined VTech, the maker of the smartphone-like KidiBuzz, for allegedly collecting the personal information of hundreds of thousands of children without their parents' consent. VTech paid the fine but issued a statement at the time saying it did not admit any violations of law or liability.
R J CROSS: Parents have a whole new set of threats they have to be thinking about when it comes to what toys they should bring into their homes for the holidays.
VELTMAN: That's R.J. Cross. She's a policy analyst with U.S. PIRG. The consumer protection nonprofit's latest annual Trouble in Toyland report adds that these smart toys can potentially expose children to harmful content within the games themselves. Take Meta's Quest virtual reality headsets.
CROSS: This is really immersive technology that feels so, so real when you're inside of it.
VELTMAN: Meta lowered the recommended minimum age for their use earlier this year. Cross says now kids as young as 10 can use them to play edgy multiplayer games available through Meta's Rec Room app.
CROSS: This is one of the most popular apps Meta has on its app store.
VELTMAN: Rec Room is full of user-created games, some of them very disturbing. But for Meta, it's like whack-a-mole. Once they take down one version of a troubling game, another user puts up a different version. Meta's website does have a guide for parents and pre-teens concerning the safety of its VR offerings. It includes written content warnings and a video.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #2: It can feel intense to be immersed in an experience and it could prompt an emotional reaction.
VELTMAN: And in a statement to NPR, Meta said parents can control whether their preteen can download or use an app and block access to apps at any time.
Chloe Veltman, NPR News.
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