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Is Tea Safe? A Tea App Review for Parents
Overview
Dating today often starts with an app, and now there’s one that claims to help women vet the men they’re talking to. The Tea app is self-described as the “safest place to spill tea.” In other words, a platform where women can share their experiences with men they’ve encountered. Conversely, if a woman is dating someone new, they can look them up on the app to see if anyone has information about the guy in question.
The idea is to help women know if the men they’re talking to have a problematic history. Tea was created to be a dating safety tool for women — it was not created to be a platform for kids to join. But sadly, we’ve heard multiple reports of teen girls getting on the app and posting about boys in their school. So if you’ve heard something about a “Tea” app circulating at your child’s school, this review will tell you everything you need to know.
Before we get into the content and risks, let’s do a quick overview of how the app works. With Tea, users can:
- Upload images and information about men they’ve dated/interacted with.
- Comment on posts of men they have information about (including reacting with a green or red flag emoji).
- Post and comment in a community feed; this space is intended for women to share their experiences and ask for advice.
- Private DM other women on the platform.
- Set alerts for specific men if their name is posted
- View a sex offender map of the user’s area
Features only offered with the Pro version:
- Look up phone numbers to see who the number belongs to.
- Reverse image search to find someone/something in other places online.
- Request a background check or criminal record search of someone else.
Harmful Content 😲
Most importantly, parents need to know that Tea is not an app for kids. It’s 17+ in the App Store, and users are required to upload a selfie to verify themselves (more on that later). Women are free to share about any experience they’ve had, including sexual experiences, violent or abusive experiences, and more. Adult conversations and graphic detail are to be expected on this app.
Even if not explicitly inappropriate, many posts and comments offer dating advice that is not healthy or well-rounded. Young, teenage girls are impressionable and likely not mature enough to discern what advice is actually healthy. While teen girls are in the very formative stage of developing their views on dating and the world, this is not where they should be getting their guidance.
Lastly, there is a clear risk of bullying and false information on this app. The app trusts its users to post truthful information about the men they’ve encountered, but of course, there’s no way to ensure this. Some may take advantage of it to speak poorly of an ex or just embarrass someone anonymously. The risk that parents need to know is that teens are uploading their male peers on it and bullying them.
Predation 🚨
The ability for users to communicate with each other through posts, comments, and — most notably — private messages means there is a high likelihood for a child on this app to encounter a potential predator.
Positive Value 💙
For an adult woman, the intent and purpose of this app are understandable. However, there’s no benefit for a child to be on this app.
Privacy 🔒
To use the app, users sign up with an email, their birthday, the city they live in, and a selfie upload. Additionally, teens on the app may unintentionally include PII (personally identifiable information) such as the school they attend, the neighborhood they live in, etc.
Parental Controls ✅
The Tea app doesn’t have any parental controls, since it’s intended for 18+ users. As mentioned, the app requires a selfie from the user as a form of verification. However, this mostly just confirms the user is a woman, not necessarily her age. They do not have any thorough age verification to prevent kids from signing up.
Luckily, parents can still be proactive to help keep their kids safe from Tea. When you use Bark, you can block the Tea app entirely on your child’s device.
So, should my kid download it?
No. The Tea is not meant for kids, and it’s not a safe space for them. We suggest blocking this app, especially if you’ve heard it going around in your child’s social circles.
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