Tea's founder lured millions of women to spill their secrets, then exposed them
4 days ago
- #privacy breach
- #online communities
- #dating safety
- Paola Sanchez, founder of 'Are We Dating the Same Guy?' Facebook groups, was approached by Christianne Burns to become the face of the Tea app.
- Tea app, similar to the Facebook groups, allows women to share red flags about men and requires ID or facial verification for membership.
- Despite multiple attempts, Sanchez did not respond to Burns' recruitment offers.
- Tea app experienced two security breaches in late July, compromising users' images, private conversations, and personal information.
- Misogynists on 4chan exploited the first breach to humiliate affected women.
- After failing to recruit Sanchez, Tea app shifted tactics to raid 'Are We Dating the Same Guy' groups for users.
- Tea paid influencers to undermine the original groups and created competing Facebook groups with similar names.
- Hijacked Facebook accounts spammed the original groups with links to the Tea app.