A controversial women-only app, Tea, which allows users to 'name and shame' men they have dated, is facing calls for a ban from men who claim it spreads misinformation and ruins lives. The app, founded by American entrepreneur Sean Cook in 2023, surged in popularity in July, reaching the top of the US App Store charts.
Tea enables women to 'sip' and 'spill the tea' on potential love interests, exposing catfishes, cheats, and liars. Cook has described it as a revolutionary forum giving 'women the tools they need to date safely'. However, outraged men are urging a complete ban, accusing the app of doxxing and slandering.
The app has nearly two million users in the US, with a waitlist of hundreds of thousands. It uses reverse image search, phone number lookup, and background checks to uncover criminal records. Cook was inspired to create Tea after his mother's 'terrifying experience' with online dating, including being catfished and unknowingly engaging with men who had criminal records.
Tea has come under scrutiny after back-to-back data breaches exposed photos and IDs of thousands of women. Men have shared these leaked photos on 4chan and created a Facemash-style website ranking women's verification selfies. On Reddit and X, men are questioning the veracity of stories submitted to Tea, with one user claiming a steep decline in his dating app matches after being accused of ghosting and cheating.
A 'Men's Rights' subreddit is calling for Tea to be eliminated and urging men to report the app to Apple and Google. US influencer Noel Glenn Carter said, 'The Tea app is ruining men's lives.' Despite the backlash, Tea claims it has helped over 1.7 million women make safer dating decisions and has donated 10 per cent of its profits to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
