A major hacking incident has exposed thousands of personal images and data from the women's dating safety app Tea Dating Advice. Response efforts are underway as the community demands transparency and enhanced protective measures.
Women's Dating Safety App Faces Major Hacking Breach Exposing User Data
Women's Dating Safety App Faces Major Hacking Breach Exposing User Data
Tea Dating Advice app, designed to empower women by vetting dates, falls victim to a security breach revealing personal images and data of users.
A women-only dating safety app, Tea Dating Advice, designed to help users perform background checks and share "red flag" behaviors, has suffered a significant hacking breach, compromising thousands of personal images. The incident reportedly exposed approximately 72,000 images submitted by women, some of which include photos where users held ID for verification purposes that the app’s privacy policies assure would be deleted immediately.
Tea Dating Advice, boasting 1.6 million users, confirmed that the breach impacted members who registered before February 2024. The company stated that it acted swiftly to mitigate the incident and is currently collaborating with trusted cybersecurity experts to address the issue.
The app has garnered considerable attention recently, soaring in popularity amid both commendation and criticism for its perceived anti-men stance. Tea enables women to verify if their potential partners are married or classified as registered sex offenders, in addition to offering reverse image search capabilities to thwart "catfishing" scams.
One controversial feature allows users to share information about their dating experiences, flagging both “red flags” and positive traits, or "green flags". While the company claims the compromised images cannot be directly linked to app posts, it did reveal that an additional 59,000 images from two years of user interactions, including posts and direct messages, were accessed, which raised further concerns among users.
In light of the breach, Tea pledged to take every possible measure to ensure the safety of its community moving forward. Founded in November 2022 by Sean Cook, who sought to improve the online dating landscape for women, the app was born out of Cook’s desire to combat fraudsters and misrepresentation that often occurs in online dating scenarios.
However, the app's controversial approach continues to face backlash, with critics asserting that it can infringe on privacy rights and lead to defamation. Legal action has arisen in the past surrounding similar platforms, highlighting the ongoing tension between safety and privacy rights in the digital dating space.
