One of the most popular apps in the US is 'fuelling a gender divide', experts warn
Tea enables women to flag everything from serious allegations of abuse to more subjective issues, such as emotional unavailability. (Reuters/Canva/Apple App Store)
Tea is the second-most-popular app in the US, and according to the company boasts a community of over 4.6 million women sharing and reading stories about people they have dated.
It is the latest in a long line of online platforms developed for crowdsourcing dating intel, from Don't Date Him Girl in the mid-late 2000s to Australian-owned social media groups Sis, Are We Dating the Same Guy? and Bye Felipe.
But experts warn Tea is escalating this concept to a new level, raising concerns that it deepens gender divides and fosters a culture of surveillance and mistrust.
What is Tea?
Tea is a US-based app that crowdsources dating experiences, allowing women to flag everything from serious allegations such as abuse or coercion, to more subjective issues such as emotional unavailability or bad communication.
According to Forbes, the Tea app attracted more than a million downloads within a week in July this year. (Supplied: Apple App Store)
The app was founded in 2023 but climbed the charts recently, reaching the number one spot in the US in July this year.
At the time of writing, it is the second-most-popular app in the US (behind only ChatGPT) but has not been rolled out in Australia.
It attracted more than a million downloads within a week, according to Forbes. The company itself boasts a community of more than 4.6 million women who read and post about dating experiences.
Zac Seidler, the global director at men's health charity Movember, says that while he finds the app "deeply problematic", he acknowledges that Tea likely began with good intentions.
"The app was very clearly an attempt at talking about legitimate fears of physical and sexual violence from intimate partners that women and girls face," he says.
Evita March, an associate professor at Federation University in Victoria, agrees.
"Its primary purpose is a fantastic one, to warn women of potential abusers," she says.
The TeaOnHer app, on the other hand, emerged this month as a direct retaliation to Tea.
The TeaOnHer app is effectively a gender flip of the Tea app and enables men to share photos and ratings about women they've dated. (Supplied: Apple App Store)
TeaOnHer is effectively a gender flip of the original app and enables men to anonymously share photos and ratings about women they have dated.
"It appears the motives for the women's app were far more altruistic as they were created with the purpose to help each other, whereas men's appear more retaliatory," Dr March says.
"There are cases in these groups where men have experienced being the target of false claims and experience slander or defamation," she adds.
"In these private groups, men [who feel they are the subject] of false claims don't have any real way to defend themselves … for many, retaliation when they are feeling hurt and angry seems a legitimate option."
Reputational anxiety in a culture of surveillance
What once was private gossip within trusted friend groups has now been scaled and monetised through technology, and the impact is felt deeply.
Apps like Tea make many young men feel a sense of constant scrutiny and reputational anxiety, Dr Seidler argues.
"Many guys are feeling like they're constantly on the verge of cancellation and the no due process."
Online masculinity influencers are spreading this idea that "the world is out to get you," he adds.
Apps like Tea are capitalising on that discontent, "giving them fuel to feel like they're being othered".
Tea is US-based and reportedly has millions of users sharing and reading accounts of people they have dated. (Reuters: Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
A Movember report found nearly a third of young men engaging with masculinity influencers cited frustrations with women being rude to them or differences in dating values as major sources of discontent.
A global survey also found perceptions of tensions between men and women were highest with younger age groups, with 59 per cent of gen Z reporting so.
Dr Seidler says the disconnect between young men and women is "being weaponised" by platforms like Tea, contributing to a backlash culture that makes open communication harder.
"It's fuelling this gender divide, which is doing nothing but turning men and women against each other."
Dr Seidler warns that this "over-surveillance culture" harms women too.
He says turning to "crowdsourced intelligence is really frightening" because, instead of helping people develop their own judgement, the app encourages users to "outsource discernment to strangers".
"I don't think we're gaining that critical lens about how to judge people accordingly, or how to understand the threshold for what a real red flag is … I think we're leaning into this us-versus-them ideology."
Ultimately, he argues, platforms like Tea have transformed and "monetised grassroots safety networks" into a form of mass surveillance that has "stripped away any context and accountability".
Tea reached the number one spot on the US charts in July this year but is not available in Australia. (Reuters: Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
Lack of moderation and a permanent digital footprint
Dr March says one of the most pressing issues with Tea is the absence of moderation and fact-checking.
"Where things go wrong is, there's no way to really determine if this is fact-based," she says.
"Although there are real cases of abuse, some claims are subjective to a person's experience."
Even when content is harmful or false, getting content removed from online spaces is often a slow and arduous process.
"By the time false claims are removed, there's no telling what the consequences are for your character," she says.
What makes things worse is that Tea is a women-only app, meaning men are unable to access the app to know if false information is posted about them.
Dr March highlights serious concerns about the impact of the digital footprint on minors.
"These posts … they stay there for somebody who, in the future, could search your name and find that.
"Should our behaviour as a minor reflect our personality and character for the rest of our lives?"
When contacted by the ABC, Tea "politely declined" to comment.
Data breach raises privacy concerns
Tea confirmed the app had been the target of a major data breach where hackers accessed over 72,000 images. (Reuters: Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
Reuters reported Tea was the target of a major data breach in late July, exposing the personal information of thousands of users.
A Tea spokesperson confirmed hackers accessed more than 72,000 images, including 13,000 selfies and photo identifications submitted for account verification purposes.
Following the breach, the BBC reportedly found websites, apps and even a "game" featuring the leaked images where men were ranking and commenting on the women's appearances.
"This leak was picked up by misogynist communities as a great cause and one that they obviously take a lot of pride in," Callum Hood, head of research at the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, told the BBC.
Since the breach, more than 10 women have filed class actions against the company that owns Tea.