The app Tea, which centers around discussions about men women are dating, experienced a significant security breach on Friday. Approximately 72,000 images—selfies, ID pictures, and various user photos—were leaked. Social media platforms are now inundated with these images, many of which depict women criticizing the men in their lives.
The app, which saw a spike in downloads last week, acknowledged on Friday that it had “identified unauthorized access to the system,” leading to the release of countless user images.
Tea disclosed that “legacy data storage systems have been compromised,” resulting in unauthorized access to a dataset used for the app’s analysis and processing.
This breach included around 72,000 images, encompassing approximately 13,000 selfies and ID photos submitted by users for account verification, as well as roughly 59,000 images shared through posts, comments, and direct messages within the app.
Since Tea is designed as a platform exclusively for women, users are required to confirm their identity by uploading either a selfie or a photo ID before being placed on a pending approval list, which currently has an estimated waiting time of 17 hours as of Monday morning.
In the FAQ section, a user wondered, “Did you think your selfies have been deleted?” The app clarified that the photos were archived, citing “law enforcement requirements related to cyberbullying prevention.”
Additionally, the company stated, “At this point, there is no evidence to suggest that photos can be linked to specific users within the app.”
However, for those seeking dating advice through Tea, this distinction seems less important, as leaked images continue to circulate on social media, where women are facing harsh judgment.
One user on X shared two images: one depicting a collage of men featured on the app and another showing a woman discussing them.
Another X user posted, “This is the person who calls you Icel in the Tea app,” along with several unflattering pictures of a woman.
Interestingly, someone has created a website that allows users to rate individuals from the hacked feminist app “Tea,” leading to discussions around whether this represents the most criticized user base ever.
While the data breach did not expose any email addresses or phone numbers, Tea stated they are “currently working to determine the complete nature and scope of the information involved in the incident.”
The idea behind Tea seems to have stemmed from the popular Facebook group “Are we dating the same guy?” (AWDTSG), known in nearly every major U.S. city.
Yet, the app claims to enhance the experience that AWDTSG offers, stating that it allows users to post the names and photos of men they are dating or may date in the future.
The company described the app as a “big chat with all the girls in the U.S. to ensure we’re not dating the same guy,” as outlined in an Instagram post last month.
Upon signing up, new users are reassured that “Everything is anonymous, screenshots are not possible, all women are verified, all posts across the country can be accessed, and you can set up alerts for male names.”
When attempting to take a screenshot or screen recording within the app, users will see a black screen instead of the images.
Users are also informed that they can “perform background checks, check criminal histories, search for sex offenders, look up phone numbers, and find social media profiles” linked to men they might be dating.
The TEA Dating Advice breach is particularly notable as it coincided with the app reaching number one in downloads on the Apple App Store last week, drawing attention and raising questions about the company’s privacy practices concerning men.
