Let’s Spill The Tea App

Tea Dating Advice, colloquially referred to as the Tea app, was removed from the Apple App Store on Oct. 21. 

The Tea app, as well as its unaffiliated counterpart, TeaOnHer, failed to meet Apple’s standards for content moderation and user privacy. The apps also received numerous complaints and poor reviews, including reports of minors’ personal information being shared, according to Apple.

The Tea app was founded by software engineer Sean Cook, who previously held product management positions at Shutterfly and Salesforce. After witnessing his mom’s dangerous experiences with online dating, he was inspired to create a platform where women could help each other stay safe while dating men, according to Cook’s LinkedIn profile.

“Tea is more than an app; it’s a sisterhood. Together, we’re redefining modern dating,” stated the app’s mission statement. “Join Tea today and get ready to conquer the dating scene, one cup at a time – your new besties are waiting!”

At the app’s launch, prospective users were required to upload a form of identification to prove their gender identity. Then, in late July of this year, 4chan users accessed over 72,000 user images in a data breach, including approximately 13,000 selfies and IDs.

“I was a little scared that my face was out there,” said an anonymous female sophomore, who decided not to pursue a relationship with a man who received negative reviews on the app.

The list was spread around the internet, eventually culminating in two detailed maps where women’s photos and names were linked to their addresses, according to an Aug. 22 BBC article.

“I would never sign up for anything like that,” said Jody Prescott, a law professor at UVM. “I would be very hesitant about providing any detailed information about myself to any app, irrespective of how well-intentioned the app might be.”

Although users on the app remain anonymous, the app now requires the prospective user to provide just a selfie which the team then reviews for approval.

“My friend from home who goes to school in San Francisco told me about it,” said sophomore Leaf Fleming. “At first, I wasn’t sure if there was a point for me to get it here because there is a way bigger population in San Francisco than in Burlington.”

After downloading the app, Fleming introduced it to several of her friends. Although she no longer uses it for dating, many of her single friends found it helpful, she said.

“[My friends and I] probably use it a few times a week, we just scroll until we see people that we know,” she said. “We just became obsessed with it.”

The app has garnered criticism for its one-sided nature against men, which eventually led to the creation of the app TeaOnHer; a similarly designed app men use to anonymously post about women. 

An anonymous male sophomore, who was posted on the Tea app at the start of the semester, says he was shocked he had been posted.

“It’s a good way for girls to communicate about other guys that they’ve encountered, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I was just a little surprised, I know I’m not a bad person.”

The anonymous male student first learned he was posted through friends who saw him on the app. Although the reviews were largely positive, he also had a few co-workers tease him for the post, he said. 

“Everyone has a right to their own opinions,” he said. “I have a girlfriend now. It hasn’t affected me, so I don’t really care.”

Having had experience on dating apps in Burlington previously, Fleming acknowledges the gaps the tea app fills for women.

“For a situation like, ‘Maybe it wasn’t that bad. It just put me off a little bit,’ people can say it on there,” she said. “But if someone was, like, a really nice guy, then it’ll say that on there, too. And so you kind of have a whole idea of a person.”

While users’ posts about the anonymous male sophomore were largely positive, he noticed friends had worse reviews than he did, he said.

“One of my friends had to get a lawyer involved because he’s a public figure in the state of Vermont,” he said. “Some of the accusations just weren’t true. He actually managed to get the post removed.”

When a user is approved for the app, they are asked to agree to its Terms and Conditions. There are also seven rules the user must agree to, including that they cannot share personal information, post minors or women and that everything they say must be true, according to the Tea app’s Terms and Conditions page.

“The things that people are saying are not necessarily things that you could defend yourself from,” Fleming said. “You know, it’s like, ‘Oh, this guy cheated on me seven times.’ Do I really want to hear someone defend themselves? I think I’ve heard enough.”

One anonymous female sophomore hung out with a guy, only to find out after that he had several “red flags” and negative comments from girls on the Tea app. 

“I would not have hung out with him if I’d seen the comments before,” she said. “I don’t know if they were all true, but I still think it kind of changed my perspective on him.” 

Over 11,647,000 women have downloaded the app since its launch in 2023, according to the app’s website. While the app is no longer available for download on the Apple App Store, it is still available on Google Play. 

The anonymity feature that makes the app appealing to millions has also made it a space where misinformation can spread easily.

“We’re all very comfortable on social media with posting anonymously and not worrying about how it would affect people,” the anonymous female sophomore said. “I think our generation is a little desensitized to posting misinformation.”