Remember Tea, the dating safety app that leaked private chats and photo IDs in July? Months later, Apple has removed the iPhone app from the App Store.
The storm around Tea began to brew over the summer when 404 Media reported that personal user data including driver’s licenses and chat logs from an insecure database leaked on 4chan. Despite the negative attention around Tea at the time, the app ranked at the top of the App Store, in part due to the new exposure.
Now News reports that Apple has confirmed it removed both Tea and TeaOnHer from the App Store.
Sarah Perez, reporting for News:
Apple confirmed the apps’ removal to News, saying it removed the Tea Dating Advice and TeaOnHer apps from the App Store as they failed to meet Apple’s requirements around content moderation and user privacy. The company also said it saw an excessive number of user complaints and negative reviews, which included complaints of minors’ personal information being posted in these apps.
Apple said it communicated the issues to the developers of the apps, but they were not addressed.
Per the report, Apple says the apps were in violation of App Review Guidelines 1.2, 5.1.2, and 5.6, which require objectionable content to be removed, protecting personal information, and avoiding an excess of negative feedback over an app.
So why did it take Apple several months to react to the negative attention around the apps in July and August? The most likely explanation is that Apple gave the app developers time to remedy the issues, but now time has run out.
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