Addressing Safety and Privacy Concerns in Children’s Smartwatches: New National Standards Introduced

Deputy Secretary-General of Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Rights Protection Committee, Ju Shang:Based on the survey results and complaints and public opinion data since 2022, the investigation report indicates that the consumption of children’s smartwatches mainly faces the following issues:,First, there is a disparity in quality, suspected false advertising, and difficulties in after-sales service. Second, there are information security risks. Third, there are unauthorized charges that induce children to spend. Fourth, platform supervision is inadequate, with some built-in games containing violent content and some comic content being inappropriate for children.The consumer survey report released by the Jiangsu Consumer Rights Protection Committee shows that a significant portion of children’s smartwatches lack basic functionalities that they should have, while possessing many features that should not exist, among which unauthorized charges and inducing minors to spend is a serious issue.

The survey also revealed that 28.48% of consumers believe that the complexity of the content in children’s smartwatches can adversely affect children’s mental health, which is also an inappropriate feature and content.

Director of the Supervision Department of Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Rights Protection Committee, Zhao Xin: Children’s smartwatches contain numerous apps that distract children from studying, allow online gaming, and even enable direct photo-taking for homework help. Some game apps involve violence, bloodshed, and crime, while comic apps are filled with pornographic and unethical content, which can easily lead minors to imitate illegal behaviors, resulting in adverse consequences.Since the beginning of this year, Jiangsu Consumer Network’s public opinion monitoring has identified 19,342 sensitive public opinion messages related to children’s watches, with a peak of 4,569 messages on March 16. The Jiangsu Consumer Rights Protection Committee has received a total of 106 complaints regarding children’s smartwatches.Overall, the issue of privacy leakage for children and even parents is the most concerning problem for consumers regarding children’s smartwatches.To better regulate the quality and safety of children’s watches, the national standard “Children’s Watches” will be implemented on November 1 of this year.Reporters interviewed several institutions and units involved in the standard formulation to understand the impact this national standard will have on the functionality, performance, and safety of children’s smartwatches.△ CCTV Finance “First Time” program videoAt the Secretariat of the National Clock Standardization Technical Committee, experts informed reporters that prior to the formulation and release of the national standard for “Children’s Watches,” there had been a lack of standards in the field of children’s watches, leading to irregularities in production, sales, and after-sales processes. The implementation of the new standard provides strong technical support for product design, production, inspection, trade, and market supervision.

Engineer Chen Bin from the National Clock Standardization Technical Committee: The national standard for “Children’s Watches” specifies technical requirements for timekeeping, waterproofing, shock resistance, electrostatic protection, chemical properties, and small parts, among others. It also sets comprehensive and detailed requirements for static positioning, calling, electromagnetic radiation, information security, battery safety, charging safety, and wearing safety temperature for children’s smartwatches.Experts indicate that among the various indicators related to children’s smartwatches, information security has always been a major concern for society. To reduce the information security risks associated with the use of children’s smartwatches and protect personal information security, the national standard for “Children’s Watches” includes provisions for system upgrade functions, identity verification, access control, security audits, and personal information protection.Additionally, the national standard for “Children’s Watches” clearly states that children’s smartwatches must meet basic personal information protection requirements, including: the purpose, method, and scope of collecting and using personal information must be clearly stated; personal information should only be collected, stored, and used after obtaining user consent, and explicit consent must be sought for sensitive personal information; only personal information that is necessary for business purposes should be collected, stored, and used; unauthorized access and use of personal information is prohibited; and users must be guaranteed the right to correct, delete personal information, and cancel their accounts.

Experts explain that the national standard for “Children’s Watches” not only details the requirements for static positioning, calling, electromagnetic radiation, information security, battery and charging safety, wearing safety temperature, and standby time based on the characteristics of children’s smartwatches but also regulates basic indicators such as waterproofing, shock resistance, and electrostatic protection.

Due to the unique consumer group of children’s watches and the high market attention, China has successively established relevant standards in the fields of wearable products, battery safety, etc. Regarding the protection of minors’ information, China has formulated national standards such as “Information Security Technology: Basic Requirements for Network Security Level Protection,” “Information Security Technology: Personal Information Security Specifications,” and “Information Security Technology: Basic Requirements for Collecting Personal Information by Mobile Internet Applications (Apps),” providing a foundational basis for regulating the network security, information security, and battery safety requirements of children’s smartwatches.Experts recommend that parents regularly check whether the systems and mobile applications of children’s smartwatches have the latest versions and update them in a timely manner. Regularly check and promptly delete inappropriate applications. The survey data shows that over half of parents buy watches for their children to better ensure their safety. The implementation of the national standard for “Children’s Watches” establishes rules that provide a basis for the quality of children’s smartwatches. It is hoped that relevant companies will truly implement this standard, allowing children to wear smartwatches that bring peace of mind to the whole family.