Imagine if you could read Yelp-style reviews of your date before you even meet; well, that’s exactly what the new Tea app is for. As tempting as that sounds, it has raises questions about online ethics and data security.
The app, which debuted in 2023, is designed to make dating safer and easier for women. It allows women to anonymously make profiles for men, including their name, age, location, and photo. On that profile, other women can anonymously give men green flags or red flags; green indicating that someone is good dating material and red raising caution.
Women can also leave anonymous comments. In addition, the app enables women to run background checks and criminal record checks in order to help women date more safely.
Many female students say they are excited about the app, which may reassure them when dating someone new. Others like that it can be used to hold abusive men accountable.
“I like the Tea app because it’s a good outlet for girls who have experienced domestic violence to put their abusers on blast so that other people don’t experience the same thing they did,” senior Maggie Jarvinen said.
However, the app has drawn some controversy. It was removed from the App Store recently because of “content moderation and user privacy” issues.
There are ethical concerns too. Critics say that the app is an anonymous way to criticize men who don’t have a way to defend themselves.
“I unfortunately was first introduced to the app when seeing how it was being used against some of our students. There’s been a number of our male students here who’ve had rumors spreading about them on this Tea app, and it’s become really upsetting to them because there’s no way for them to defend themselves or explain context,” said Social Worker Daniel Maigler. “It seems like people are using it as an opportunity to just be malicious and gossip mongering about people.”
Senior Gabe Donnez said he dealt with just this issue when he was posted on the app.
“The app claims to be a place for honest stories and real opinions, but it’s become a hub for gossip,” said Donnez. “What’s supposed to be ‘spilling tea’ has turned into misinformation that’s damaging reputations.”
In addition to concerns with defamation, people are now worried about security since a massive image leak on July 25 in which around 72,000 images and private DMs were leaked.
The leaked photos included verification photos that, according to the app, are supposed to be “immediately deleted.”
These verification photos even include images of people’s government ID’s. After being leaked, the photos were uploaded to 4chan, which is another website where people can anonymously post and text. A couple days later there was yet another breach of security where access to 1.1 million DM’s were enabled.
Since the DM’s contained users’ personal information, their identities could be easily found. However, whether the second set of user data has been leaked online is not known.
