Chinese toymaker Apitor Technology Co. was penalized for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by illegally collecting data from American children through its smart toy robots. The company’s app secretly collected children’s geolocation data and other personal information without obtaining the required parental consent. A federal court ordered Apitor to immediately cease its unauthorized data collection, delete all previously collected children’s data and imposed a $500,000 civil penalty, which was suspended due to the company’s claimed inability to pay. The case raises heightened alarms because the surreptitious data collection from children by a Chinese company is viewed in the context of…

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