When Cid Walker opens the tea application, it is greeted by a messing of messages on men and their apparent “red flag” and “green”.
“It’s a cheater,” said Walker, reading some of the comments on a post aloud.
“In which clubs is he going to?” Another person asked another post. “He’s cute.”
The application, which seems to have advertised online since at least last fall, allows users to request comments on specific men with whom they leave.
Walker, 22, is one of the 4 million users of the security application reserved for women, who has become this week free application No. 1 in the Apple App Store.
He resumed viral traction in the last month after some people started talking about it online on Reddit and Tiktok. The application has won more than 900,000 new registrations in recent days, tea said on social networks. By leaving the waiting list can now take days, a drawback that many new users have complained in the comments on Instagram publications of the application.
When opening the tea, users are presented with local men whose photos were downloaded, as well as their first names. For each of the men, other women on the application can point out whether they consider it a “red flag” or a “green flag” and leave comments on it, such as those who tell negative meetings or guaranteeing themselves for him as ani.
“I saw so many people that I know about the application, it’s crazy,” said Walker, a user in the Cleveland region who joined the application last week after seeing several viral articles on this subject. “Like, oh my God, I would never think it all about them.”
Application users can search for individual names in the search bar or create personalized alerts for specific men. The application also offers functions that allow users to perform records of history, to search for criminal history and reverse search photos to check if a man is cat fishing using someone else’s photos on his dating profile.
The application reserved for women was created by a man, Sean Cook, who declared on the Tea website that he had been inspired after looking at “the terrifying experience of his mother with online meetings”, in particular the creation of cats and attendance men without knowing it with legal records.
Cook profile on LinkedIn The listing like the founder of Tea since 2022. The description under his role says: “Tea was self -funded by Sean.”
Cook did not respond to a request for comments. A Tea representative said that the application did not offer interviews at the moment.
Tea’s mission reflects similar efforts that have gained popularity in other online forums, such as “Do we go out with the same guy?”, A Facebook community with millions of members across the country in localized ramifications.
Although the communities have declared that their mission is to keep women safe, they have also been faced with online reactions from men who say they fear being distorted or doxed on platforms.
Facebook groups, which are announced as spaces so that women warn other women of “liars, cheaters, aggressors or anyone presents any type of toxic or dangerous behavior”, have been criticized for years online to turn into places of gossip or to spread any information on people. Last year, The judges rejected two defamation proceedings Posed in Illinois and California by men displayed in groups.
With tea, some men posted in forums Ask others to report the application in the hope of closing it, and others have expressed his interest in an equivalent for men only On which they could discuss and make fun of women.
An application has already tried to offer it. The Teaborn application climbed to n ° 3 in the table of free applications on Wednesday before disappearing from the App Store.
Shortly before its deletion, the application had deployed an update with “moderation tools and improved content report” after its creator condemned users for having allegedly shared revenge porn on the platform.
Teaborn told NBC News in a social media statement: “Apple has just taken us back yesterday because the TEA application does not like competition, but we work to return with a new brand!”
Apple did not respond to a request for comments.
Despite the search for applications like Tea Entertaining, users like Walker have expressed their discomfort with the idea of allowing so many people to speak anonymously online.
The registration for tea obliges users to take selfies, which, according to application, are deleted after examination, to prove that they are women. All users who are accepted are anonymous apart from the user names they choose. The screenshots are also blocked.
On her website, Tea describes himself as “more than an application; It is a fraternity ”. The application claims to donate 10% of its profits to the national hotline of domestic violence.
A hotline spokesperson did not immediately respond to a comment request on Thursday.
“Together, we redefine modern meetings,” explains the application.
Walker said she had noticed that many users are focusing more on gossip than real security concerns, but that she believes that some people have found useful tea in exposing serious problems such as abuse.
“I have the impression that if people should use the application how it is supposed to be used, it could prevent many women to be injured or injured,” said Walker. “But at this point, I think it’s like a joke for everyone and just like cyberbullying.”
