Apple Removes Tea Dating Apps Over Privacy Violations and User Complaints

[MacRumors]

Apple this week removed dating review apps Tea Dating Advice and TeaOnHer from the App Store for violating its content moderation policies.

The apps were pulled in all markets on October 21, and Apple told TechCrunch that the app developers did not meet requirements for moderation and user privacy, violating App Store guidelines 1.2, 5.1.2, and 5.6. Apple also saw an "excessive number of user complaints and negative reviews," including complaints that people were sharing the personal information of minors.

Rule 1.2 says that apps need to have reporting and blocking features, and should remove objectionable content. Rule 5.1.2 prohibits apps from sharing users' personal information without permission, and rule 5.6 says that excessive negative reviews violate Apple's Developer Code of Conduct.

Apple contacted the developers of each app before removing the apps, but they did not address the problems.

For background, Tea is an app designed to let women share details about the men they were dating, offering "red flag" and "green flag" ratings. The app launched in 2023, but it went viral earlier this year, and its popularity led to a data breach.

TeaOnHer is a separate app from a different developer that launched after Tea became popular, and it too had major security issues. Neither developer has commented on the situation.

Both apps are still available on Google Play, and on the App Store, TechCrunch has found multiple copycat apps.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Removes Tea Dating Apps Over Privacy Violations and User Complaints

 

[Tubamajuba]

Rule 5.1.2 prohibits apps from sharing users' personal information without permission

Well that's pretty cut and dry, now isn't it?

 

[Reason077]

Well that's pretty cut and dry, now isn't it?

Not if the people whose personal information is being shared are not users.

 

[jz0309]

Not if the people whose personal information is being shared are not users.

so, I highlighted the concern for you below - what else other than "users" would there be?

The apps were pulled in all markets on October 21, and Apple told TechCrunch that the app developers did not meet requirements for moderation and user privacy, violating App Store guidelines 1.2, 5.1.2, and 5.6. Apple also saw an "excessive number of user complaints and negative reviews," including complaints that people were sharing the personal information of minors.

 

[AeroEd]

so, I highlighted the concern for you below - what else other than "users" would there be?

Won’t someone please think of the children ? 😬

 

[newyorksole]

heard about this app on Twitter over the summer. very interesting…

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

This feels like a horrible idea tbh

Also why are ratings exclusive to women?

 

[surferfb]

The EU is proud to announce that these apps will be available on alternate app stores on the continent!

Consumers: 1, Apple: 0.

“Thanks EU!” - minors with personal information shared.

In all seriousness, here is a prime example of how opening up the app store will absolutely hurt real people.

 

[MrRom92]

This should have never been allowed. They acted too slowly, so now it doesn’t matter, it’s too late. Everyone who would want this app already installed it.

Apple should be blasted for their failure to take meaningful action

 

[Elwe]

My friend is a partner at a small but prestigious law firm that services Silicon Valley. She says that there are a number of recent practices and companies against which firms like hers are preparing actions. This Tea app is one, but she discussed six more with me and was ready to discuss even more. One that she also mentioned was Uber. The recently announced ability to allow women--and only women--to both request same sex passengers and drivers:

"
Dubbed "Women Preferences," the feature will provide women riders the option of only pairing with women drivers. It will also work the other way around, allowing female drivers to taxi only female riders.

"

She believes some lawyer in the room would definitely have told Uber leadership that that this is 100% illegal, and that it would have been been easy to make legal by allow for either(all)/all. But that either marketing or leadership or whoever wouldn't have like that messaging. But that when they are sued, it will be trivial for them to open these paths to other than women and have the courts take the messaging hit.

Outside of Title IX areas that courts have explicitly authorized, she believes many other areas are likely to face significant litigation. I've never known her to be wrong about the law, but I guess we'll see.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

My friend is a partner at a small but prestigious law firm that services Silicon Valley. She says that there are a number of recent practices and companies against which firms like hers are preparing actions. This Tea app is one, but she discussed six more with me and was ready to discuss even more. One that she also mentioned was Uber. The recently announced ability to allow women--and only women--to both request same sex passengers and drivers:

"
Dubbed "Women Preferences," the feature will provide women riders the option of only pairing with women drivers. It will also work the other way around, allowing female drivers to taxi only female riders.

"

She believes some lawyer in the room would definitely have told Uber leadership that that this is 100% illegal, and that it would have been been easy to make legal by allow for either(all)/all. But that either marketing or leadership or whoever wouldn't have like that messaging. But that when they are sued, it will be trivial for them to open these paths to other than women and have the courts take the messaging hit.

Outside of Title IX areas that courts have explicitly authorized, she believes many other areas are likely to face significant litigation. I've never known her to be wrong about the law, but I guess we'll see.

What motivates them to do that anyway? They'd probably get more clients if they made it available for anyone no? Would lead them to have more women and men client

 

[coolfactor]

This should have never been allowed. They acted too slowly, so now it doesn’t matter, it’s too late. Everyone who would want this app already installed it.

Apple should be blasted for their failure to take meaningful action

Apple ultimately did the right thing, but one must ask how these apps slipped past the review process and got approved. Were the rules updated after these apps were already in the wild?

Automated A.I. will make app reviews far more robust in the next 12-24 months.

 

[ixxx69]

One that she also mentioned was Uber. The recently announced ability to allow women--and only women--to both request same sex passengers and drivers:

"
Dubbed "Women Preferences," the feature will provide women riders the option of only pairing with women drivers. It will also work the other way around, allowing female drivers to taxi only female riders.

"

She believes some lawyer in the room would definitely have told Uber leadership that that this is 100% illegal, and that it would have been been easy to make legal by allow for either(all)/all. But that either marketing or leadership or whoever wouldn't have like that messaging. But that when they are sued, it will be trivial for them to open these paths to other than women and have the courts take the messaging hit.

Outside of Title IX areas that courts have explicitly authorized, she believes many other areas are likely to face significant litigation. I've never known her to be wrong about the law, but I guess we'll see.

That has absolutely positively nothing to do with this article. It's not related in any way, shape or form.

 

[Boeingfan]

Rule 5.1.2 prohibits apps from sharing users' personal information without permission

Too little too late. Once a stalker or lunatic decides to flood the internet with someone’s personal information, it is only when the information is found, and permission is lacking, that any breach remedy is triggered. That’s simply unsatisfactory.

I would expect all posts to be moderated, and, those with someone’s personal details to require permission from said person.

The red flag here is the lack of these features. Social media is renowned as a toxic cesspit giving a voice to those who don’t deserve them, and this usage is no different.

 

[chelsel]

For all the people that don't care about privacy, this should be a wake up call... maybe you want to keep your dating life private. Maybe you're a cheap date. Maybe you're bad in bed. These are things that are protected by strong privacy policies. Glad Apple is stepping up and protecting people.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

The EU is proud to announce that these apps will be available on alternate app stores on the continent!

Consumers: 1, Apple: 0.

“Thanks EU!” - minors with personal information shared.

In all seriousness, here is a prime example of how opening up the app store will absolutely hurt real people.

The app still violates Eu privacy laws so instead of just breaking some store policy it would be criminally liable 🤷‍♂️

And they have been in the store for months with copycats that still aren’t removed despite apples review process. It seems like the effect in negligible.

 

[bollman]

The app still violates Eu privacy laws so instead of just breaking some store policy it would be criminally liable 🤷‍♂️

And they have been in the store for months with copycats that still aren’t removed despite apples review process. It seems like the effect in negligible.

GDPR to the rescue!
Most Americans don't realize that EU has _actual_ laws that protect its citizens. Like the GDPR, with hefty fines attached.

 

[macduke]

This reminds me of the Black Mirror episode where people have social scores that dip below 3/5 stars your life is basically ruined. Yeah, there are a lot of freaky men and women out there, but that’s a part of the process of dating. You have to push through that and it helps you figure out what you want in a partner more effectively. And the way people react to your poor behavior helps shape you in reverse and I would say is even more important.

I could be pretty cringe when I was young and had a lot of weird ideas about how relationships should work and I shudder to think about what my exes might have said to ruin me on such an app, and what I might have said about them as well. So glad I missed this era (and I even found my wife online back before it was cool!) and have been happily married for over 15 years. God forbid anything ever happens to my wife, but idk if I could do dating like this, despite being mostly green flags. I might just stay single. This sounds like a nightmare and to make matters worse everyone is so polarized and out to get each other nowadays.

The EU is proud to announce that these apps will be available on alternate app stores on the continent!

Consumers: 1, Apple: 0.

“Thanks EU!” - minors with personal information shared.

In all seriousness, here is a prime example of how opening up the app store will absolutely hurt real people.

Yeah, but you could absolutely do this as a web app. But with the way things work today, I wonder how that might limit their reach and popularity? People love native apps. It will be interesting to see if they can make the switch to web.

 

[alchemistmuffin]

Rule 1.2 says that apps need to have reporting and blocking features, and should remove objectionable content. Rule 5.1.2 prohibits apps from sharing users' personal information without permission, and rule 5.6 says that excessive negative reviews violate Apple's Developer Code of Conduct

This is same reason why Twitter’s legal department told Musk some his changes he wanted to make (like removing blocks completely) would result in app being blocked.

Apple contacted the developers of each app before removing the apps, but they did not address the problems.

Not only they didn’t address the problem, but hearing rumors they doubled down on it, so Apple had no choice.

Not only that, since this egregious violation, they also disabled their Apple ID and went further and bricked all of their Apple devices they had, meaning company is banned from owning ANY Apple products for life.

 

[Godspeed8230]

We had a similar app where you/ the students could rate teachers. It, too, got pulled and it caused some pretty serious debates about privacy.

 

[bsolar]

The EU is proud to announce that these apps will be available on alternate app stores on the continent!

If the apps do what is mentioned in the article they would pretty much assuredly violate EU law, regardless of app store policies.