The Tea Dating Safety App is popular among students across the country, and Lincoln is no exception. The app was released in 2023 by Sean Cook. According to Tea’s website, it intended to provide a safe, anonymous space for women over the age of 18 to post comments, images, personal experiences or any “tea” about men for other women who might be interested in the same man. Users are required to prove that they are a woman by taking a selfie upon signing up.
Despite the Tea app stating that its users, and men who are posted on the app, must be over the age of 18, underage students are using the app and posting about minors. While the app is designed to be centered around support and safety for women, it has faced backlash over those same issues.
According to the BBC, the app was subject to a data leak this July, when over 70,000 images of selfies and IDs, which the app used to require upon signing up, were posted on the online bulletin and messaging board 4chan.
This leak raised questions about the controversy of using Tea, and whether it prevents or provokes harassment.
Vice Principal Travis Johnson has concerns about misuse and cyberbullying among students using the app, while he understands Tea’s intended purpose.
“Saying something about a person who’s 15 years old…the impact that can have on someone, whether it’s legitimate or not, I think is concerning,” said Johnson. “It doesn’t take much to impact someone’s life negatively as a teenager.”
Sophomore Jin Kadyk had his image and name posted on Tea anonymously, along with comments. He found it confusing and frustrating.
“[The app] is kind of weird if you think about it, because … if no one told me, I just wouldn’t know,” said Kadyk. “You can just post [people] without [their] consent or knowledge.”
Junior and SAFER (Students Active for Ending Rape) leader Elise Chan-Kai agrees that girls using the app under pseudonyms to post about other students can lead to bullying. Chan-Kai questions the ethics of
the app.
“It’s bad for [men’s] image in itself… to hear just generally negative things said about yourself on an app that you don’t have access to because you’re the wrong gender…probably feels pretty bad,” said Chan-Kai. “And granted…maybe you did do that stuff…but if you didn’t, then you’re just getting defamed unknowingly [and wrongly].”
The Tea app has been removed from the Apple App Store. Apple told the technology-focused news outlet TechCrunch that the removal was because the app did not meet Apple’s requirements surrounding content moderation and user privacy. Apple also said it received many user comp laints and negative reviews, which included complaints of minors’ personal information being posted on the app.
Rather than posting on the Tea App, Johnson encourages students to reach out to a trusted adult, such as a counselor or the anonymous tipline SafeOregon, if they are concerned about the behavior of another
student.
Students can also reach out to Chan- Kai and other SAFER leaders, who are not mandatory reporters and are available to talk if a student is dealing with sexual harassment or other issues.
“The school will handle it appropriately and do whatever we can if we can do something about it,” said Johnson. “I would rather people [reach out to a trusted adult] than post things online.”
