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.<\/p>\n
What is Tea?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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According to Forbes, the Tea app attracted more than a million downloads within a week in July this year. (Supplied: Apple App Store)<\/p>\n
The app was founded in 2023 but climbed the charts recently, reaching the number one spot in the US in July this year.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It attracted more than a million downloads within a week, according to Forbes<\/a>. The company itself boasts a community of more than 4.6 million women who read and post about dating experiences.<\/p>\n Global Director at men’s health charity Movember, Zac Seidler, says that while he finds the app “deeply problematic”, he acknowledges that Tea likely began with good intentions.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n Evita March, an associate professor at Federation University in Victoria, agreed.<\/p>\n “Its primary purpose is a fantastic one, to warn women of potential abusers.”<\/p>\n The TeaOnHer app, on the other hand, emerged this month as a direct retaliation to Tea.<\/p>\n 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)<\/p>\n TeaOnHer is effectively a gender flip of the original app and enables men to anonymously share photos and ratings about women they have dated.<\/p>\n “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,” says Dr March.<\/p>\n “There are cases in these groups where men have experienced being the target of false claims and experience slander or defamation,” she adds.<\/p>\n “In these private groups, men of false claims don’t have any real way to defend themselves \u2026 for many, retaliation when they are feeling hurt and angry seems a legitimate option.”<\/p>\n Reputational anxiety in a culture of surveillance<\/p>\n What once was private gossip within trusted friend groups has now been scaled and monetised through technology, and the impact is felt deeply.<\/p>\n Apps like Tea make many young men feel a sense of constant scrutiny and reputational anxiety, said Dr Zac Seidler.<\/p>\n “Many guys are feeling like they’re constantly on the verge of cancellation and the no due process.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Online masculinity influencers are spreading this idea that “the world is out to get you,” says Dr Seidler.<\/p>\n Apps like Tea are capitalising on that discontent, “giving them fuel to feel like they’re being othered”.<\/p>\n Tea is US-based and reportedly has millions of users sharing and reading accounts of people they have dated. (Reuters: Dado Ruvic\/Illustration)<\/p>\n A Movember report<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n A global survey<\/a> also found perceptions of tensions between men and women were highest with younger age groups, with 59 per cent of gen Z reporting so.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “It’s fuelling this gender divide, which is doing nothing but turning men and women against each other.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dr Seidler warns that this “over-surveillance culture” harms women too.<\/p>\n 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”.<\/p>\n “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 \u2026 I think we’re leaning into this us-versus-them ideology.”<\/p>\n 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”.<\/p>\n Tea reached the number one spot on the US charts in July this year but is not available in Australia. (Reuters: Dado Ruvic\/Illustration)<\/p>\n Lack of moderation and a permanent digital footprint<\/p>\n Dr March said one of the most pressing issues with Tea was the absence of moderation and fact-checking.<\/p>\n “Where things go wrong is, there’s no way to really determine if this is fact-based,” she says.<\/p>\n “Although there are real cases of abuse, some claims are subjective to a person’s experience.”<\/p>\n Investigation reveals the dark side of Tinder<\/a><\/p>\n A joint Four Corners and triple j Hack investigation finds the app fails to act on sexual assault complaints and lets rapists hide.<\/p>\n Even when content is harmful or false, getting content removed from online spaces is often a slow and arduous process.<\/p>\n “By the time false claims are removed, there’s no telling what the consequences are for your character,” she says.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Dr March highlighted serious concerns about the impact of the digital footprint on minors.<\/p>\n “These posts \u2026 they stay there for somebody who, in the future, could search your name and find that.”<\/p>\n “Should our behaviour as a minor reflect our personality and character for the rest of our lives?”<\/p>\n When contacted by the ABC, Tea “politely declined” to comment.<\/p>\n 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)<\/p>\n This controversy comes as Reuters reported Tea had been the target of a major data breach<\/a> in late July, exposing the personal information of thousands of users.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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