The women-only dating platform Tea is facing major backlash after a second data breach exposed over one million private messages. The leak follows an earlier incident where hackers accessed 72,000 user images—some including photo IDs and selfies.
Tea, which claims to offer women a safe and anonymous dating space, has now disabled its direct messaging feature and launched a full-scale investigation.
Hackers expose sensitive data from Firebase storage
The first breach was discovered on July 25. In an official statement, Tea confirmed a legacy storage system was compromised, exposing old user data stored before February 2024. The compromised files included around 13,000 photo IDs and selfies submitted for verification and over 59,000 public images from posts, comments, and chats.
The images were hosted on Firebase and remained exposed for an undisclosed period. The story was first reported by 404 Media, which has now revealed even more disturbing developments.
Over one million DMs leaked
Security researchers told 404 Media that hackers were able to access over one million private messages. These included extremely sensitive conversations between users, such as discussions about abortions, cheating partners, and personal contact details.
Tea responded by posting an update on its website and Instagram account. The team confirmed that some direct messages had been accessed and took the affected system offline immediately.
FBI joins the investigation
Tea has enlisted external cybersecurity experts and the FBI to contain the damage and investigate how the breach occurred. The platform has not yet confirmed how many users were affected by the message leak, but it is working to notify anyone whose data was exposed.
“We’re actively working to identify users affected and will offer free identity protection services,” the team wrote on Instagram via their @teapartygirls account.
Conclusion
The Tea app data leak is a major setback for a company built on digital safety for women. With both private images and deeply personal conversations now in the hands of hackers, Tea is rushing to rebuild trust. While investigations are ongoing, the breach underscores just how high the stakes are when platforms promise privacy but fail to secure it.
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