This summer, the Tea app — a platform where women anonymously rated and discussed men, ostensibly to help each other date safely —suffered data breaches that exposed users’ personal information. In response, men launched a counterpart app called TeaOnHer, while Tea faced a class-action lawsuit from users furious over their private data being vulnerable to hackers. Now, Apple has removed both from the App Store.w
Lindsey Ellefson for Lifehacker:
Tea was around for about two years before it unexpectedly went viral in July, which led to at least two distinct data breaches, the second of which occurred when a data expert discovered that not only were some users’ pictures stored in an unsecured manner, but some private DMs were, too.
Part of the reason the app went so viral in the first place was that a lot of people were uncomfortable with its premise. It functioned like Yelp, but instead of reviewing businesses, women could review men. The men had no recourse or due process; they couldn’t even access the app, let alone respond to anything said about them.
Some people found that unfair and others saw an opportunity to cash in on the discontent. TeaOnHer, an app with the same premise but aimed at men, hit the App Store about two weeks after the Tea hack. The privacy discourse continued, but both apps remained up in the Apple App Store anyway. Until now.
Apple confirmed to TechCrunch that the apps were pulled because they failed to meet the company’s requirements for user privacy and content moderation
MacDailyNews Take: Buh-bye.
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