An app is on a mission to prevent women from wasting a good outfit. The Tea app, which lets women anonymously review men they’ve dated, skyrocketed to the No. 1 spot in the App Store this week. But now critics are raising the same privacy and ethics concerns that pop up whenever someone posts a screenshot of a dude who stood them up.
Only women can create accounts, and there’s currently a waitlist. Downloads have increased by 185% this month compared to the same time last year, according to Sensor Tower.
How it works: Tea vets users by asking them to upload a selfie and a photo of their ID. Women can post photos of men, with reviews ranging from bad dates to warnings that he’s a scammer. Other women can add their own experiences or react with red and green flag emoji. Some features, like background checks, are behind a paywall.
Big picture: The idea of a digital whisper network for women to warn each other about potentially dangerous men isn’t new (see: West Elm Caleb, Facebook groups, etc.), but the app’s popularity shows there’s still a demand. However, Tea’s efforts to protect women have already backfired with a recent data breach that exposed users’ IDs.—MM
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