In the age of anonymous social media apps, Tea stands out for its sharp edge — naming names. The platform allows women to post about men they have dated or heard about, anonymously flagging behavior they consider problematic. The concept has sparked debate among University of Iowa students and experts over whether the app is a tool for safety or just a gossip forum.

Tea is part of a growing category of apps designed to help women date safely. Similar apps, like Are We Dating the Same Guy?, began as private Facebook groups where users could verify a partner’s behavior through trusted connections. With Tea, users can post anonymously, theoretically giving them protection from retaliation while alerting others to harmful behavior. 

Emanuel Sanchez, a UI second-year student, said once a post is made, anyone on the app can anonymously comment, offering advice or sometimes saying things that are untrue. 

To open a Tea account, users must submit a photo of themselves to confirm they are a woman before seeing any posts. Aside from the names of those being posted, the app keeps users anonymous and blocks screenshots to protect their identities. 

Sarah Witmer, a UI graduate student who studies digital spaces for women’s safety, said these apps exist to address the very real risks of modern dating. 

“If you think back to how people dated before the internet, we knew who we were going on a date with, and if it was a blind date, we knew we were set up with them through trusted connections,” Witmer said. “Now, essentially, women are meeting total strangers. And while that’s exciting, it is also just statistically more dangerous for women than men.”

According to Pew Research Center, nearly 60 percent of women feel online dating is not a safe way to meet people, and 64 percent of women feel dating apps and companies should require a background check for all users.

According to the app’s website, Tea’s founder, Sean Cook, created the platform after watching his mother’s alarming experience with online dating, where she was catfished and unknowingly dated men with criminal records. Tea’s message is simple: “Women should never have to compromise their safety while dating.”

But UI second-year student Azure Sabotta, who downloaded Tea a month ago, now questions if that is truly the impact the app is making. 

“It was such a beautiful, wonderful, constructive, safe space for women, and it was a great idea,” Sabotta said. “But it just has completely been blown out of proportion, and now it’s gonna come down harder on women, which was not what it was supposed to do.”

Sabotta said several of her male friends have been posted on the app, and it quickly becomes difficult to tell what anonymous advice is real and who is lying. 

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Sanchez was also posted on the app, twice, which he said was unexpected.

“I didn’t think I’d interacted with people that would speak about me on a public platform,” Sanchez said. “I don’t really talk to a lot of people, so I was surprised to see my name on there.”

While Sanchez sees the value in the app’s intended mission, he feels the anonymous structure leads to people sharing information irresponsibly. 

“Anonymity allows a lot of people to say things about a person that they may have had a sour taste in their mouth about before, just because they know it can’t be traced back to them,” he said.

Witmer said when apps like Tea emerge, public concern turns to how men might be affected rather than the reason why women feel the need for such platforms in the first place.

“Women are trying to keep men accountable,” Witmer said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, the poor man that got posted, his reputation is ruined.’ No, he ruined his reputation with poor behavior, and people talked about it.”

The attention on men’s reputations can distract from the real purpose of the app, which is to support women. But Witmer said there are also drawbacks to the app’s structure.

“I do think being anonymous is both a positive and a negative,” Witmer said. “Even if the intent is positive and loving, community safety-centered, women-centered, the intent doesn’t necessarily matter if the impact is negative. So these companies really have to weigh the pros and cons of the unintended impact of their features.”

Sabotta said she worries the app is being used for carrying out personal vendettas instead of its intended purpose — to keep women safe. 

“The point of it is to spread information. But I think it should be used for information and not just built up hate because, like, this guy didn’t text you back,” Sabotta said. 

Sabotta’s concerns point to a familiar pattern on platforms designed for women’s safety — when it becomes more about getting back at an ex than looking out for others, the impact is minimized.