Social Media App Emerges as Significant Source of Disinformation

Controversy erupts across Miami University as a new dating app gains traction among students, raising serious concerns about privacy, consent, and the spread of potentially false information.

Tea Dating Service, initially designed as a safety tool for women to anonymously alert each other about predatory men, has evolved into something far more contentious on campus. The app allows female users to post photos and identifying information about men, along with ratings and comments about their behavior.

For many Miami University students, the consequences have been immediate and severe. Sophomore finance major Ben Herrholtz witnessed the app’s impact firsthand when it led to his roommate’s breakup.

“His ex-girlfriend wrote some things that I guess weren’t true about him, and his girlfriend saw that,” Herrholtz explained. This incident highlights a growing concern about the app’s potential for misuse.

The application requires users to verify they are female before creating an account, leaving men with little recourse when information about them appears on the platform. Despite offering tools like criminal record checks and reverse image searches, Tea has become a forum where personal grievances are aired publicly, often with limited fact-checking.

Natalia Salazar, a first-year business major, downloaded the app after hearing friends were being discussed on it. “It’s all fun and games, but I think that it could lead to very false interpretations of people,” she said. “The things that they say about some of our friends, if you met them, it’s not exactly true.”

This sentiment is echoed by Kate Beard, a first-year sport communication and media major, who initially found the app entertaining. Her perspective shifted after seeing friends’ reactions to posts about them. “It’s not 100% accurate,” Beard noted, “so I would never base my opinion on somebody just from those comments.”

The app’s impact on male students has been particularly troubling. Adam Arling, a first-year kinesiology major, knows at least five friends who have been posted on Tea, often with information that blends truth and falsehood.

“They’re getting posted on this app without their consent, and it’s also anonymous comments, so they’re getting potentially false information spread about them,” Arling said.

The permanence of these digital accusations is what troubles Herrholtz most. “I understand customer reviews for something like a product on Amazon, but a customer review for somebody who’s dating someone… I feel like you’re just not giving them the opportunity to change as a person,” he said.

He believes the app’s design prevents men from addressing accusations, whether true or false, leaving a permanent digital record that could affect future relationships. “It doesn’t give them a chance to redeem themselves,” he added.

University officials are monitoring the situation, though their capacity to intervene remains limited. Ellie Grossman, assistant director for sexual and interpersonal violence prevention for Student Health Services, learned about Tea from resident assistants who reported its popularity among students.

“I would say that the basis of the app, that’s a good thing,” Grossman said, acknowledging the importance of student safety resources. “We want our students to know how to take care of each other. We want our students to be able to share resources. This is just maybe manifested into something that is not the ideal way we would want them to do that.”

Some limited fact-checking does occur on the platform. According to first-year education major Ava Vasquez, “There are some girls [who] will comment and be like, ‘That’s my friend. He’s never done that.'” However, these corrections appear on only a small portion of posts.

Alex Fields, director of the Office of Community Standards at Miami University, clarified that while the university has policies protecting student safety and well-being, they don’t have specific policies addressing individual apps like Tea. She also noted that the university doesn’t actively monitor the app.

“It’s not a space for us, so if something comes up that should be shared or should be addressed, students have to tell us,” Fields explained. “That’s not to say that we’re completely unaware, but we aren’t in all the same spaces that our students are.”

As the app continues to gain popularity, the Miami University community faces difficult questions about the balance between safety resources and potential harm caused by unverified, anonymous accusations in the digital age.