My ex was harassed, so I joined an app for safe appointments. Then, they leaked and shared my address

They could also make reverse image searches to detect people who used false identities. In addition, it was possible to mark men with red or green flags and share unsecured rumors.

The application rose in download lists in the United States until reaching number one position. According to reports, it attracted more than one million users.

Sally, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, thought it was interesting to read what was said about the men in his area. But the app seemed “gossip” and felt that part of the information was not reliable.

At the end of July, the application was hacked. More than 70,000 images were leaked and published in the 4Chan forum, including identifications and selfies of women who had registered in ASD, which were supposed to be only for verification purposes and had to “eliminate immediately.”

The filtration was used by misogynist groups on the Internet and, in a matter of hours, several websites had been created to humiliate women who had registered.

In social networks two maps were published that showed 33,000 markers distributed by the United States. Fearing the worst, Sally expanded the map looking for his house. He found it: his exact address was highlighted so that anyone could see her.

He was concerned that his ex -boyfriend could track her now.

“I didn't know where I lived or worked, and I have worked hard to keep it that way,” he says. “I am very scared.”

The BBC warned Google on the two maps housed in Google Maps that supposedly represented the locations, although not the names, of the women registered in ASD.

The company said they violated their policies against harassment and eliminated them.

Since the filtration, more than 10 women have filed collective demands against the company that owns TEA.

A spokesman for the TEA application said they are “working to identify and notify the users whose personal information was compromised and notified in accordance with the applicable law”, and that those affected would be offered “protection services against identity theft and credit monitoring.”

They also stated that “they reinforced resources” to improve the security of current users, which are “proud of what they have built” and that their “mission is more vital than ever.”

Since filtration, the BBC has found websites, applications and even a “game” with stolen data, which foster harassment towards women who had registered in the app.

The “game” presents selfies sent by women, instructing users to click on the one they prefer, with classification tables of the “50 best” and “50 worst”.

In social networks, users make fun of women's appearance.

The BBC could not identify the creator of the website.

Copies of the ASD application aimed at men have also proliferated. But they don't say they do it for their safety. Instead, users publish hard and degrading reviews about women.

In screen recordings seen by the BBC, users comment on the sexuality of women and publish intimate images of them without their consent in those applications.

The BBC also identified more than 10 groups of “ASD” for men in the application of Telegram messaging, where they share sexual images and apparently generated by the women so that others qualify or spread them gossip.

They also publish women's social media profiles, revealing their identity.

A Telegram spokesman said that “illegal pornography is explicitly prohibited” and “eliminates when discovered.”

John Yanchunis, a lawyer who represents one of the demanding women of the company owner, said she was the subject of immense online abuse.

“It caused a huge emotional anguish,” he told the BBC. “It became the object of mockery.”

It is not surprising that the filtration was exploited.

The application received criticism from men since it began to gain popularity.

The defamation, with the dissemination of unpublished accusations, and the doxxingwhen personal information is published without consent, they were real risks.

Groups of men wanted the application to be eliminated and, when they found the security gap, they saw it as an opportunity for revenge.

“This filtration was received by misogynist communities as a great cause and one of which they obviously feel very proud,” says Callum Hood, head of research at the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

More than 12,000 publications in 4Chan – a forum known for its extreme content – referred to the Tea Dating application between July 23, three days before filtration, and on August 12, he adds.

Online, ASD filtration is being described as part of a “genres war” and the drop that filled the glass in heterosexual appointments.

Evidence grows that heterosexual young people are moving away from traditional appointments and long -term romantic relationships.

Negative experiences in appointment apps contribute to these tensions.

A Pew investigation in 2023 concluded that, in the US, more than half of women had had negative experiences in appointment applications, being more likely to report unwanted behaviors by men and to feel insecure on those platforms.

Jenny Van Hooff, a sociologist at the Metropolitan University of Manchester, states that the perception of lack of security influences how many young women want to participate in online appointments.

Unlike when a couple is known through friends or at work, there are less consequences for inappropriate behaviors on the Internet.

“The experience of women with the opposite sex in apps Dating is a sense of fear and lack of trust, “he says.” Misoginia is only strengthening more in the field of citations. “

Precursors of the TEA application, such as social networks groups Are We Dating the Same Guy (We are dating the same man) with thousands of followers, they have existed for years globally.

At first, they were acclaimed as a new way to hold men. But, as with ASD, the controversy followed them, and many men felt that what was published represented them unfairly. Online groups organized to make them close.

With more than one million reported users, the APA app brought this concept to another level.

But experts have also questioned possible profit motivations behind the application, together with the reliability of published information.

For women looking to use the app for safety, verifying the data can be complicated.

Meanwhile, men, who do not have access to the application, have no way of knowing if there is false information about them.

Van Hooff warned that the APA app and the subsequent filtration feed the existing division between men and women, and fell fears in heterosexual appointments.

The safety of women has been compromised, and men feel that their actions are taken from context and exploited as gossip.

For Sally, the filtration has affected its sense of protection.

“I'm moving with my loved ones just to feel safe,” he says.

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