The recently popularized mobile dating platform Tea was designed for women to anonymously share information, or “spill the tea”, about men whom they’ve encountered by using red and green flags to indicate if they recommend the men to other women. The app has been circulating amongst college students, but has recently flowed down to high schoolers.
Tea brands itself as a “dating safety tool that protects women” by “redefining modern dating.” The app requires photo proof that a user is female before they can create and access accounts. From then on, the app is completely anonymous to post, comment and flag any man 18 years and up.
Similar to how she would have Googled the person she was going on a date with, teacher Sophia Coen said the concept of dating safety for women is super important; however, she sees a lot of negative consequences that can arise from the platform.
“From a safety standpoint, women have to protect other women in that regard, and people should protect people. But if you’re posted—it is technically a form of social media—the effects of people commenting personal information about you or lying about you is not good for anyone,” Coen said.
Senior Bennett Nagel, 18, said that he was shocked when he discovered that he was posted on the app. While he understands how it could harm the individuals posted, he said that he didn’t mind being posted.
Current student at the University of Washington, Channing Morse, said she hears a lot of gossip circulating amongst her friends. Morse worries about men’s mental health when information, true or false, is spreading around.
“Men’s mental health is already stigmatized. At this age, when everyone is so young and impressionable, having those negative comments could be really harmful for something that’s not very well known,” Morse said. “That could lead to somebody’s life being ruined over something they might not have possibly done.”
According to 404Media, Apple removed Tea and TeaOnHer, an app designed for men to post and comment on women, from its app store in late October for failing to meet the company’s terms of use regarding content moderation and user privacy. However, users who previously downloaded Tea or use a different app store, are still able to access the app. Coen said that she is not surprised by this decision because it is affecting so many people’s mental health.
“It’s contributing to negative mental health outcomes, cyberbullying, etc. From a liability standpoint, an app company probably doesn’t want to be responsible for the outcomes of it. It seems like once it exists, it becomes an uncontrollable monster. So it’s probably a good move to take it down,” Coen said.
