An FTC guide sets out the questions before buying a connected toy

The play

A connected toy is any plaything that reaches the internet to do something a battery toy cannot: a stuffed animal that answers a child's question, a companion robot that logs into an app, a smart speaker shaped like a nightlight. In December 2019 the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Consumer and Business Education posted consumer guidance titled What to ask before buying internet-connected toys, aimed at holiday shoppers weighing a smart speaker or a camera-and-microphone toy. The page, by FTC staffer Cristina Miranda, carries a byline dated 5 July 2022, showing the agency has kept the guidance current.

What the evidence says

The alert does not test or certify any product. It sets out two groups of questions a caregiver can ask before buying: whether the toy has a camera or microphone and whether the family will know when it is recording; whether it can send emails or reach social media; and whether parents can control setup and default settings. A second group asks what data the toy collects during play, where recordings and pictures are stored, who can see them, and whether the company lets a parent view or delete them. The FTC's own COPPA compliance FAQ confirms the legal backdrop: connected toys, smart speakers, and voice assistants are treated as online services under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, and a recording containing a child's voice or image counts as personal information the operator must protect. Neither document names or scores a specific toy; both describe what the law requires, not what any manufacturer has actually done.

Age fit and safety

Neither source sets an age range for connected toys generally; the guidance ties its protections to a legal age line: COPPA's obligations apply once a toy or service collects personal information from a child under 13. That threshold does not tell a caregiver whether a given connected toy suits a three-year-old or an eight-year-old; it tells them which products must disclose their data practices and offer a deletion path. A toy that answers one of the FTC's questions in its privacy policy has not thereby been independently verified; it has only made a claim a caregiver can compare against later.

What to look for

This is an editorial reading of the two documents, not additional FTC guidance. Before buying, a caregiver can run the toy's own privacy page against the FTC's list: does it name what a microphone or camera records, where storage happens, and how to delete it. A product that avoids the questions has given a caregiver less to check than one that answers plainly.

• Does the toy's own privacy policy answer each of the FTC's questions, or only some of them?
• Is there a clear way to see and delete what the toy has recorded about a child?
• Does turning off the microphone, camera, or internet connection still leave a usable toy?

The FTC's list is a starting checklist, not a certification. It tells a caregiver what to ask; it does not, by itself, tell them what any single product actually does with a child's voice or picture once collected.