What is Tea - the women-only app with millions of users?

Millions of women successful the US person downloaded a "dating advice" app that claims it catches catfish, checks for hidden marriages and keeps them harmless from men online.

According to App Store tracker SensorTower.com, Tea Dating Advice has go the astir fashionable escaped app successful America and is the fig 1 manner download.

It besides claimed earlier this week to person precocious gained adjacent to a cardinal caller users, and said connected Instagram it has much than 4 cardinal women "in our community".

However, the women-only app has travel nether occurrence for being "anti-men" and for a information breach which saw 13,000 idiosyncratic photos leaked.

But what is Tea? And wherefore has it proved controversial?

What is the app?

Tea Dating Advice is simply a women-only app that allows users to anonymously station astir men they are dating successful the US.

The app's website says it was launched "to springiness women the tools they request to day safely" - and offers AI-powered reverse representation searching to drawback catfish utilizing fake images connected dating profiles.

It besides offers telephone fig searching to cheque if men person "hidden marriages" and inheritance checks to cheque for transgression records, and has a representation of registered enactment offenders.

While these features aren't unsocial to Tea - with astir being publically accessible and the premise being akin to Facebook pages similar Are We Dating The Same Guy? - the app offers them successful 1 package.

Tea besides touts that it has "the largest women's radical chat successful the US, wherever users stock experiences, anonymous dating reviews, and support".

Sean Cook, a Bay Area tech executive, founded and self-funded the app successful 2023 due to the fact that his parent was catfished and talked to men with transgression records portion dating online, according to its website.

Also attached is Daniella Szetela, Tea's societal media director. She's champion known for her Instagram relationship Relatable Girl Talk, wherever she gives dating proposal to astir 284,000 followers.

Read more: 'It's not you, it's dating': Where is modern emotion going wrong?

Who tin usage it?

Only women tin usage the app, which requires users to registry by creating a username including location, commencement date, a photograph and authoritative identification.

Tea says it deletes each photos aft a review, wherever moderators o.k. oregon contradict applications and verify if caller users are women.

All users who get accepted are promised anonymity extracurricular of the usernames they choose, and taking screenshots of what's successful the app is besides blocked.

Once approved, users tin permission comments describing circumstantial men arsenic a "red flag" oregon "green flag," and stock different accusation astir them.

Comments connected Tea's Instagram amusement that applications aren't that straightforward however, with a fig of radical saying it takes days to beryllium approved.

While men cannot usage the app, Tea says immoderate takedown requests should beryllium emailed to their enactment table with their name, location, arsenic overmuch accusation arsenic imaginable astir the contented successful question, and a photo.

Read much from Sky News:
New net rules travel into unit - here's what is changing
Man tells however helium conned dozens of women
The frustrated entrepreneurs taking connected dating

What are the concerns?

Tea has drawn dense backlash, with The Times calling it a "man-shaming" app and a station successful the MensRights subreddit saying it "must beryllium deleted".

Much similar the Facebook pages it resembles, the app has besides been criticised for devolving into places for gossip oregon for spreading imaginable misinformation astir people.

Sky's US spouse web NBC News reported that judges successful Illinois and California dismissed 2 defamation lawsuits filed by men who were posted successful specified Facebook groups.

Writing for the civilization website Dazed, Serena Swift said it's "clear however an app similar Tea could beryllium abused", noting doxxing - wherever backstage accusation astir idiosyncratic is shared online with malicious intent - and concerns astir men "who aren't abusers" having their accusation published.

Speaking to Fox 2, lawyer William Barnwell said men could person civilian ineligible recourse if the posts impact their work, household life, oregon estimation arsenic defamation mightiness apply.

A male-only mentation of the app - Cheeky - has besides been launched, offering anonymous chats astir dating. It says connected it's authoritative Instagram that it's "our effect to the Tea App".

However, NBC News reported the creator of Teaborn - a erstwhile men-only alternate that climbed to fig 3 successful the escaped apps illustration - had condemned its users for allegedly sharing revenge porn connected that app.

What happened with the Tea information breach?

NBC News reported that thousands of accounts were leaked aft a hacker managed to breach the company's database.

Tea has confirmed the leak to Sky News, and said it had identified "unauthorised entree to 1 of their systems and instantly launched a afloat probe to measure the scope and impact".

In preliminary findings, the institution said the incidental progressive a bequest information retention strategy containing accusation from anterior to February 2024.

It is estimated that astir 72,000 images - including astir 13,000 images of selfies oregon selfies featuring a photograph recognition submitted during relationship verification and 59,000 images publically viewable successful the app from posts, comments and nonstop messages - were accessed.

"Protecting Tea users' privateness and information is their highest priority," it said. "Tea is taking each indispensable measurement to guarantee the information of the level and forestall further exposure."

Posts connected societal media suggest the leak was archetypal posted connected 4Chan and has been shared wide since then. Sky News has not independently verified immoderate leaked information.