Summary

**Summary:** Messaging on the Tea dating safety app has been paused after a hacking incident exposed members' images and messages. The app, which helps women check the backgrounds of men and share information about dates, is working on fixing security issues and offering identity protection to affected users. **Key Facts:** - Tea is a dating safety app for women that was hacked, exposing thousands of images, posts, and direct messages. - The app allows women to do background checks on men and share information about past dates. - Over 1.6 million users are on the app, which is based in the United States. - The app helps users check if potential partners are married or have criminal records and helps prevent "catfishing." - Tea paused messaging while investigating the hack and is strengthening its security measures. - Affected users will receive free identity protection services. - The hack accessed images that included some with photo identification, though Tea’s policy claims these are immediately deleted after verification. - The breach affected members who joined the app before February 2024.