The Tea app, a viral social platform marketed as a "safe space" for women to share experiences about men, is sinking deeper into controversy. A massive data breach exposed thousands of images, including verification photos and government IDs, leading enthusiasts to create a website called "Spilled Tea." This site uses the leaked data to compare women’s faces, ranking them in a user-driven survey that includes a page showcasing the "Top 50 Best" and "Top 50 Worst" faces. The situation echoes a notorious episode from tech history involving Mark Zuckerberg’s early venture, Facemash.
Tea, which recently topped app store charts with nearly two million signups, allows women to anonymously post photos and comments about men, labeling them as “red flags” or “green flags.” However, the breach has shattered its promise of safety. "Spilled Tea" invites users to upload and cross-reference women’s faces with the leaked dataset, raising serious concerns about privacy and ethics.
The scandal draws parallels to Facemash, created by Zuckerberg in 2003 during his time at Harvard. Facemash, a "hot or not" site, let users rank the attractiveness of students using photos scraped without consent. It garnered thousands of votes in a day but was shut down by Harvard for privacy violations, nearly costing Zuckerberg his academic standing. Undeterred, he went on to launch TheFacebook, the precursor to Facebook.
Both "Spilled Tea" and Facemash exploit private data for appearance-based rankings, highlighting issues of consent and ethical boundaries. Tea’s creators have acknowledged the breach but have not addressed additional user complaints, such as interface issues. Meanwhile, "Spilled Tea" has drawn criticism for objectifying women and amplifying the breach’s harm.
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As Tea’s reputation falters, the shadow of Facemash serves as a reminder of how unchecked innovation can cross ethical lines. Zuckerberg, now leading Meta, might recognize this saga as a familiar clash of ambition, technology, and privacy. Whether "Spilled Tea" fades or sparks a broader reckoning for Tea remains uncertain, but the scandal has already left users disillusioned.
