Sarah Perez, TechCrunch:

Reached for comment, Apple confirmed the apps’ removal, saying it removed Tea Dating Advice and TeaOnHer from the App Store because 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 communicated the issues to the developers of the apps, a representative said, but the complaints were not addressed. (Request for comment from the app developers has not yet been returned.)

Specifically, Apple cited violations of its App Review Guidelines 1.2, 5.1.2, and 5.6. Rule 1.2 says apps with user-generated content should offer reporting and blocking features and should remove objectionable content. Rule 5.1.2 says apps can’t use or share someone’s personal information without permission, and Rule 5.6 says excessive customer reports and negative reviews violate Apple’s Developer Code of Conduct. [...]

After going viral and generating controversy, Tea suffered a data breach over the summer, with hackers gaining access to 72,000 images, including 3,000 selfies and photo IDs submitted for account verification, as well as 59,000 images from posts, comments, and direct messages.

Later, a rival app called TeaOnHer launched to offer men the ability to dish on women in the same way, but it was beset by security issues that exposed users’ personal information, including government IDs and selfies, TechCrunch discovered in August.

Seems odd to me that Apple only pulled Tea from the App Store now, three months after multiple disastrous security breaches revealed their amateur hour approach to security. See previous coverage here at DF: July 26, July 28, and July 30.