A social media app that allows women to anonymously rate, review, and share stories about men has taken the internet by storm.
But not all that viral attention has been positive.
Called “Tea,” the top downloaded app on the Apple Store claims that it sets out to “protect women” in the dating market.
“Join a community of over 1,647,000 women dedicated to empowering each other and get access to a suite of dating safety tools made just for the FBI girlies,” the company page boasts. “Share experiences and seek advice within a secure, anonymous platform. Tea is built on trust; screenshots are blocked and all members are verified as women.”
The company adds, “Tea is more than an app; it’s a sisterhood. Together, we’re redefining modern dating.”
(For the unaware, “tea” has become modern slang for gossip.)
Apart from helping women track down verified “green flag” men, the app also claims to allow women to “identify potential catfish,” or phonies, “verify he’s not a sex offender,” as well as apparently allow women to run background and criminal history checks on men.
The company was founded by Sean Cook, who claims that his personal history motivated the launch of the app.
“Founder Sean Cook launched Tea after witnessing his mother’s terrifying experience with online dating—not only being catfished but unknowingly engaging with men who had criminal records,” the company claims on its “About Us” page.
The bio adds, “Realizing that traditional dating apps do little to protect women, Sean knew something had to change. That’s why he built Tea—the first-ever dating safety platform for women.”
According to Forbes, “Tea” now has over a million downloads after launching just this past week, making it an almost literal overnight success.
However, both Forbes and social media agree: This app could be rife with pitfalls.
Forbes points out a host of potential legal issues, such as defamation, that could arise from misuse of “Tea,” as well as intentional weaponization of the app for revenge, which there do not appear to be any clear guardrails for.
Social media was not nearly as diplomatic with its criticisms of “Tea.”
In a post that has garnered over 60,000 likes already, one prominent female X content creator outright called it “demonic.”
this is straight up demonic. absolutely no one should be allowed to create public profiles about you to crowdsource your deeply personal information and dating history. https://t.co/6GEn8aIlWU
— MJ (@morganisawizard) July 23, 2025
“this is straight up demonic,” she wrote. “absolutely no one should be allowed to create public profiles about you to crowdsource your deeply personal information and dating history.”
One well-liked response to that post lamented the potential ramifications of it all.
“Why can’t I find a nice guy?”
Because you listened to his psychopathic ex anonymously make stuff up about him— definitely next year (@nhldeadline) July 23, 2025
“‘Why can’t I find a nice guy?'” the response said. “Because you listened to his psychopathic ex anonymously make stuff up about him.”
Another major female X user posted her concerns about “Tea” in a response that’s garnered over 20,000 likes.
This is only going to backfire and make men less likely to approach women.
Also, what if the guy is amazing and the girl was so upset that she lost him that she completely sabotages his reputation? https://t.co/4ulcWOAq2T
— Brittany Hugoboom (@BritHugoboom) July 23, 2025
“This is only going to backfire and make men less likely to approach women,” the post argued. “Also, what if the guy is amazing and the girl was so upset that she lost him that she completely sabotages his reputation?”
The app may be incredibly popular — at least in terms of download metrics — but it’s clear there are some lingering issues with it that will not be so easily resolved.
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