A relationship security app that enables ladies to do background checks on males and anonymously share “purple flag” behaviour has been hacked, exposing hundreds of members’ photos, posts and feedback.
Tea Relationship Recommendation, a US-based women-only app with 1.6 million customers, stated there had been “unauthorised entry” to 72,000 photos submitted by ladies.
Some included photos of ladies holding picture identification for verification functions, which Tea’s personal privateness coverage guarantees are “deleted instantly” after authentication.
Tea stated the breach affected members who signed up earlier than February 2024. It added it had “acted quick” and was “working with a number of the most trusted cyber safety consultants”.
The app has lately skilled a surge in recognition – in addition to criticism from some who declare it’s anti-men.
Tea lets ladies verify whether or not potential companions are married or registered intercourse offenders in addition to run reverse picture searches to guard in opposition to “catfishing”, the place folks use faux on-line identities.
However some of the controversial facets of Tea is that it permits ladies to share info on males they’ve dated to “keep away from purple flags” but in addition spotlight these with “inexperienced flag” qualities.
The corporate stated the breached photographs “can under no circumstances be linked to posts inside Tea”.
The agency blocks screenshots in order that posts usually are not shared outdoors the app.
However on Friday it additionally admitted that a further 59,000 photos from the app displaying posts, feedback and direct messages from over two years in the past have been accessed.
Tea stated: “We’re taking each step to guard this group – now and all the time.”
BBC Information has contacted Tea for remark.
The corporate was arrange in November 2022 by Sean Cook dinner, a software program engineer who stated he was impressed to create Tea after witnessing his mom’s on-line relationship experiences.
He instructed Medium in Might: “I used to be shocked by how straightforward it was for catfish, scammers and criminals to reap the benefits of ladies on relationship apps and the way little conventional relationship apps do to guard customers.”
Nevertheless, some males – and girls – have challenged these kind of teams claiming that they put males liable to invasion of privateness and defamation.
Earlier this yr, a person named Nikko D’Ambrosio took authorized motion in opposition to Fb’s proprietor Meta due to plenty of statements made about him in a chat group known as “Are We Relationship the Similar Man”.
The lawsuit was thrown out by a federal choose in Illinois.
