Major Data Breach Hits Women's Dating Safety App, Exposing Thousands of User Images

In a concerning incident, Tea Dating Advice, a women-only safety app with 1.6 million users, experienced a major data breach, revealing thousands of images and personal details. The platform, which allows women to conduct background checks on potential partners, is currently working with cybersecurity experts to address the issue and enhance security measures.

A women-centric dating safety application has recently suffered a serious security breach, resulting in the unauthorized exposure of thousands of member images and personal content. Tea Dating Advice, a U.S.-based app designed for women, reported that approximately 72,000 images, some meant for verification with photo IDs, were compromised. The company claims these images typically should be deleted following the verification process, raising serious privacy concerns among its user base of 1.6 million.

The breach predominantly impacted users who registered before February 2024. In response to the incident, Tea stated that it is collaborating with leading cybersecurity experts to address the situation and has taken swift action to protect its community.

The app has seen a recent uptick in usage, while also facing scrutiny for its features that some view as unfairly biased against men. Tea provides tools for women to ascertain the marital status and criminal backgrounds of their potential partners, in addition to conducting reverse image searches to combat online deceit, or ‘catfishing’.

However, a contentious aspect of the app involves the functionality enabling women to share both "red flags" and "green flags" about men they have dated. The firm claims that the leaked images cannot be traced to specific posts on the app, and it has measures in place to prevent screenshotting of posts.

On Friday, Tea acknowledged that a further 59,000 images containing posts, comments, and messages dating back over two years were also accessed during the breach. The firm reassured its users, stating, "We're taking every step to protect this community - now and always."

Tea was founded in November 2022 by Sean Cook, a software engineer motivated to enhance safety for women in the online dating landscape after observing troubling experiences faced by his mother. He articulated his rationale for creating the app in a recent Medium interview, expressing concern over the risks posed by scammers and criminals in traditional dating environments.

Nonetheless, there has been criticism from some quarters, suggesting that such platforms can infringe on men’s privacy and result in defamatory remarks. Earlier this year, a legal case was filed against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, by Nikko D'Ambrosio. His lawsuit stemmed from statements made in a discussion group regarding his dating experiences, but it was dismissed by a federal judge in Illinois.