You’re reading Infinite Scroll , Kyle Chayka’s weekly column on how technology shapes culture.

The app Tea is a kind of digital whisper network for women. No men are allowed to join. Those who wish to be members must submit evidence, including selfies, in order to prove that they are women. Once they’ve been admitted, users have access to profiles of men annotated with information such as background checks and dating reviews; men with shady dating histories are rated with red flags. After launching in 2023, the Tea app got little attention for two years. Then, in July, thanks to TikTok and Instagram videos testifying to the app’s effectiveness at sussing out creeps, it reportedly gained more than two million new user requests. This might have been just another triumphant startup story,

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