A dating security app that allows women to conduct background checks on men and share “red flags” behavior anonymously, revealing images, posts and comments from thousands of members.
Tea Dating Advice is an American women’s app that uses only 1.6 million users, he said the 72,000 images submitted by women are “unauthorized access”.
Some include images of women holding photo identities for verification purposes, Tea’s own privacy policy promises to “delete immediately” after identity verification.
Tea said members affected by the violation will be signed by February 2024. It added that it has been “fast” and is “working with some of the most trusted cybersecurity experts”.
The app has experienced a surge in popularity lately — as well as some criticisms that claim it is anti-human.
Tea allows women to check if a potential partner is married or registered sex offender and perform reverse image searches to prevent people from using “catfishing” that fake online identities.
However, one of the most controversial aspects of tea is that it allows women to share information about the men she pursues to avoid red flags, but also highlights those with the “green flag” qualities.
The company said the photos that were violated “can’t be associated with posts in the tea.”
The company blocks screenshots, so there are no shared posts outside the app.
But on Friday, it also acknowledged that another 59,000 images in the app show posts, comments and direct messages from two years ago.
“We are taking every step to protect this community, now and forever,” said Tea.
BBC News has contacted TEA for comment.
The company was founded in November 2022 by software engineer Sean Cook, who said he was inspired after witnessing his mother’s online dating experience.
“I’m shocked by how easy it is to catfish, scammers and criminals to take advantage of dating apps and how traditional dating apps can protect users,” he told the Media in May.
However, some men – and women – challenge these types of groups, claiming that they put men at risk of invasion of privacy and defamation.
Earlier this year, a man named Nikko d’Ambrosio took legal action against Facebook owner Meta, because he made many statements about him in a chat group called “We’ve dated the same person.”
The lawsuit was filed by a federal judge in Illinois.
Health & Wellness Contributor
A wellness enthusiast and certified nutrition advisor, Meera covers everything from healthy living tips to medical breakthroughs. Her articles aim to inform and inspire readers to live better every day.
