From Hunton:
On April 27, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission issued two warning letters to foreign marketers of geolocation tracking devices for violations of the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). The first letter was directed to a Chinese company, Gator Group, Ltd., that sold the “Kids GPS Gator Watch” (marketed as a child’s first cellphone); the second was sent to a Swedish company, Tinitell, Inc., marketing a child-based app that works with a mobile phone worn like a watch. Both products collect a child’s precise geolocation data, and the Gator Watch includes geofencing “safe zones.”
Read more on Privacy & Information Security Law Blog.
The law is the law, but clearly a parent has purchased these devices to track their children/pets/grandparents.
Or did the summary leave out some important data?
This is the FTC’s press release on their letter to the two companies: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/04/ftc-warns-gator-group-tinitell-online-services-might-violate
From that statement:
So it may be as you say, that parents bought the devices, knowing what the devices do, but FTC says the companies need to be sure they have disclosed and have obtained verifiable parental consent.