Tea Dating Advice: Difference between revisions
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As of 2025, the app claims to have more than 1.6 users, with recent numbers going up to 4.6 million as of July 27, 2025. | As of 2025, the app claims to have more than 1.6 million users, with recent numbers going up to 4.6 million as of July 27, 2025. | ||
==Incidents== | ==Incidents== | ||
Revision as of 10:01, 28 July 2025
| 📰 |
This page or section is about an ongoing event. |
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2023 |
| Legal Structure | Private |
| Industry | Social media service |
| Official website | https://www.teaforwomen.com/ |
Tea Dating Advice (simply known as Tea), is a women-only social media platform founded in 2023 by Sean Cook.[1] The purpose of the app is for women to share their experiences with dating local men, including checking for criminal records.[2] Some have described the app as a "whisper network".[3]
Consumer-impact summary
Freedom
Users can delete their accounts by contacting the [email protected] email. Users who fall under GDPR or the CCPA can access, correct, update, or request deletion of their account.
Privacy
According to the privacy policy, collected information includes email address, date of birth, location, photograph, and ID photograph. Data such as ID are stated as being "stored only temporarily and will be deleted immediately following the completion of the verification process", however data can be retained if Tea needs to comply with legal, tax or accounting requirements per the Data Retention section. User information is also shared with third party advertisers by default unless the user contacts Tea directly to opt-out.
Business model
According to the in-app purchases list, users can pay $7.99 for reverse image searches and criminal record checks, with the subscription tiers ranging from $4.99/month for Tea premium and $9.99-$19.99 for Tea Pro.
Market control
As of 2025, the app claims to have more than 1.6 million users, with recent numbers going up to 4.6 million as of July 27, 2025.
Incidents
This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Tea Dating Advice category.
Public database leak (2025)
On July 25, 2025, a 4chan post detailed a Firebase database leak connected to the Tea app which included 72,000 images, 13,000 being selfies and state IDs with the remaining 59,000 being from direct messages and posts.[4] It was alleged by the anonymous user the database contained no credential authentication.[5]
On July 27, Tea made an official statement hidden on their website that stated no email addresses or phone numbers were breached and "only users who signed up before February 2024 were affected".[6] This questions the reliability of the privacy policy, as the verification photos were not deleted over a year after verifying the accounts, to which Tea claimed it was due to "cyber-bullying prevention". The email also claimed the requirement for ID images was removed at the end of 2023.
See also
References
- ↑ "About Us". Tea. Archived from the original on 2025-07-27. Retrieved 2025-07-27.
- ↑ Kwai, Isabella (2025-07-26). "What to Know About the Hack at Tea, an App Where Women Share Red Flags About Men". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2025-07-27. Retrieved 2025-07-27.
- ↑ Hoover, Amanda (2025-07-25). "The rise of snitch apps". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2025-07-27. Retrieved 2025-07-27.
- ↑ Maiberg, Emanuel; Cox, Joseph (2025-07-25). "Women Dating Safety App 'Tea' Breached, Users' IDs Posted to 4chan". 404 Media. Archived from the original on 2025-07-27. Retrieved 2025-07-27.
- ↑ Lanz, Jose (2025-07-25). "Tea App That Claimed to Protect Women Exposes 72,000 IDs in Epic Security Fail". Decrypt. Archived from the original on 2025-07-27. Retrieved 2025-07-27.
- ↑ "Official Statement". Tea. Archived from the original on 2025-07-27. Retrieved 2025-07-27.