Latest news with #catfish
Sky News
7 days ago
- Sky News
What is Tea - the women-only app with millions of users?
Millions of women in the US have downloaded a "dating advice" app that claims it catches catfish, checks for hidden marriages and keeps them safe from men online. According to App Store tracker Tea Dating Advice has become the most popular free app in America and is the number one lifestyle download. It also claimed earlier this week to have recently gained close to a million new users, and said on Instagram it has more than four million women "in our community". However, the women-only app has come under fire for being "anti-men" and for a data breach which saw 13,000 user photos leaked. But what is Tea? And why has it proved controversial? What is the app? Tea Dating Advice is a women-only app that allows users to anonymously post about men they are dating in the US. The app's website says it was launched "to give women the tools they need to date safely" - and offers AI-powered reverse image searching to catch catfish using fake images on dating profiles. It also offers phone number searching to check if men have "hidden marriages" and background checks to check for criminal records, and has a map of registered sex offenders. While these features aren't unique to Tea - with most being publicly accessible and the premise being similar to Facebook pages like Are We Dating The Same Guy? - the app offers them in one package. Tea also touts that it has "the largest women's group chat in the US, where users share experiences, anonymous dating reviews, and support". Sean Cook, a Bay Area tech executive, founded and self-funded the app in 2023 because his mother was catfished and talked to men with criminal records while dating online, according to its website. Also attached is Daniella Szetela, Tea's social media director. She's best known for her Instagram account Relatable Girl Talk, where she gives dating advice to around 284,000 followers. Who can use it? Only women can use the app, which requires users to register by creating a username including location, birth date, a photo and official identification. Tea says it deletes all photos after a review, where moderators approve or deny applications and verify if new users are women. All users who get accepted are promised anonymity outside of the usernames they choose, and taking screenshots of what's in the app is also blocked. Once approved, users can leave comments describing specific men as a "red flag" or "green flag," and share other information about them. Comments on Tea's Instagram show that applications aren't that straightforward however, with a number of people saying it takes days to be approved. While men cannot use the app, Tea says any takedown requests should be emailed to their support desk with their name, location, as much information as possible about the content in question, and a photo. What are the concerns? Tea has drawn heavy backlash, with The Times calling it a "man-shaming" app and a post in the MensRights subreddit saying it "must be deleted". Much like the Facebook pages it resembles, the app has also been criticised for devolving into places for gossip or for spreading possible misinformation about people. Sky's US partner network NBC News reported that judges in Illinois and California dismissed two defamation lawsuits filed by men who were posted in such Facebook groups. Writing for the culture website Dazed, Serena Swift said it's "clear how an app like Tea could be abused", noting doxxing - where private information about someone is shared online with malicious intent - and concerns about men "who aren't abusers" having their information published. Speaking to Fox 2, lawyer William Barnwell said men could have civil legal recourse if the posts affect their work, family life, or reputation as defamation might apply. A male-only version of the app - Cheeky - has also been launched, offering anonymous chats about dating. It says on it's official Instagram that it's "our response to the Tea App". However, NBC News reported the creator of Teaborn - a previous men-only alternative that climbed to number three in the free apps chart - had condemned its users for allegedly sharing revenge porn on that app. What happened with the Tea data breach? NBC News reported that thousands of accounts were leaked after a hacker managed to breach the company's database. Tea has confirmed the leak to Sky News, and said it had identified "unauthorised access to one of their systems and immediately launched a full investigation to assess the scope and impact". In preliminary findings, the company said the incident involved a legacy data storage system containing information from prior to February 2024. It is estimated that around 72,000 images - including approximately 13,000 images of selfies or selfies featuring a photo identification submitted during account verification and 59,000 images publicly viewable in the app from posts, comments and direct messages - were accessed. "Protecting Tea users' privacy and data is their highest priority," it said. "Tea is taking every necessary step to ensure the security of the platform and prevent further exposure."
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tommy Lee and Brittany Furlan Are 'Not Separated or Divorced' Following Catfish Saga: 'Fake News,' Rocker Says
NEED TO KNOW Tommy Lee and Brittany Furlan are "not separated or divorced" following the catfish saga that unfolded on social media in May 2025 On Saturday, July 19, Lee cleared up the split rumors by sharing a couple selfie on Instagram with a caption about "fake news" The rocker's denial came after the pair allegedly spent some time apart, a source previously told PEOPLETommy Lee is shutting down rumors that he and Brittany Furlan have split. On Saturday, July 19, the Mötley Crüe rocker, 62, shared a selfie with Furlan, 38, on Instagram that marked the couple's first public feed post together since May's catfish saga unfolded. Split rumors arose when Furlan revealed that she had been seduced by a catfish posing as musician Ronnie Radke. Having gone relatively quiet on his social media in the wake of the drama, Lee is now confirming the catfish saga hasn't torn their marriage apart. 'Hey fake news,' the rocker wrote in the caption of his latest Instagram post. 'We're not separated or divorced!! Get your s--- together!! 🤣.' Just a few hours earlier, Furlan had also nodded to the couple's relationship status with a post of her own. The former Vine star shared a video depicting two silhouettes — seemingly hers and Lee's — sharing a kiss on Instagram Stories. The couple's public reconciliation comes after Furlan shared several vaguely inspirational posts — including a July 19 video about overcoming 'darkness' and moving out of a 'lowest point.' Meanwhile, Lee took an Instagram hiatus except for a couple of nature-related posts. The alleged tension between Lee and Furlan — who met on celebrity dating app Raya in 2017 and got married in 2019 — kicked off in May. At the time, the comedian shared a since-deleted TikTok where she admitted to exchanging Snapchat messages with someone she believed to be Falling In Reverse frontman Radke during a 'tough time' in her six-year marriage. "Basically, I told my husband everything,' Furlan said of messaging the Snapchat user she believed to be Radke. 'I said, you know, 'I've been talking to whoever I thought this was on Snapchat — he says it's not him, cool, whatever — 'cause I'm a good person. I mean, I'm not a good person for talking to someone while married. I've been going through a lot in my marriage. No excuse, whatever.' The video came after Radke claimed that Furlan was catfished by someone pretending to be him in a series of Instagram Stories posts. Radke also alleged that Lee had threatened him over the situation, a claim Furlan backed up in her video. "I come clean to my husband, my husband freaks out, messages [Radke]," the podcaster said in the since-deleted TikTok, adding that "that's how this all started." Lawyers were involved on both sides, according to posts from Radke and Furlan. Around the same time, a TMZ report alleged that Lee and Furlan had been living apart amid concerns over Lee's alleged drinking behavior. The Mötley Crüe rocker publicly nodded to the ongoing drama in his marriage in a since-deleted Instagram post that read: 'Who's been catfished?' is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! Shortly after the catfish saga unfolded on social media, a source close to the couple told PEOPLE that the pair were taking some time apart. The insider also said that prior to the very public exchanges between the pair and Radke, Lee and Furlan's relationship was already 'drama, drama, drama.' A relationship status update came in early June, when Furlan revealed that the May drama ultimately made her and her rocker husband closer. 'All of this happening has weirdly brought us together, which is really strange,' she said on her This Is the Worst podcast. 'I think we really faced like, 'Oh, what would life really be like without each other?' " Read the original article on People
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘This is a true giant': Man breaks Kansas blue catfish record with 121-pound Missouri River monster
TOPEKA (KSNT) – A Missouri angler has broken a more than decade-old catfish record in Kansas by nearly 20 pounds. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) reports on its website the record for blue catfish was broken on May 15 this year by a man from Agency, Missouri. He caught the big catfish using a rod and reel with common carp used for bait. The new state record, caught on the Missouri River, weighs in at 121.1 pounds and measures in at 59.75 inches. The previous record, caught by an Olathe man using a rod and reel with cut bait on the Missouri River in 2012, weighed in at 102.8 pounds and measured in at 56.75 inches. Why are so many strange catfish coming out of this Kansas lake? 27 News got in touch with the angler, Daniel Mayer, who shared details on how he landed the big fish and how he feels about setting a new state fishing record. Mayer described his catch as 'truly just a fish of a lifetime' that he caught while fishing with a Big Cat Fever rod on the Missouri River late at night before an upcoming tournament. 'I really struggled to get her into the boat myself,' Mayer said. 'It was all still setting in like 'oh my gosh, this is a true giant.'' Mayer said he was wrapping up fishing on the river that night when he hooked the blue catfish. He was shocked by the size and weight of his catch as he reeled it in. 'I didn't realize until I tried to lift her up and into the boat just how big she was,' Mayer said. 'At first I thought my net was stuck on the side of the boat. Then I realized it's just a really, really big fish. I got her into the boat finally like 'holy cow, she takes up half of the bottom of my boat!'' What are the rarest fish you can catch in Kansas and where can you find them? Mayer said he started making phone calls to try and find out how to get the catfish weighed on a certified scale and determine which side of the state line his catch was made on. He eventually got his catch weighed at a business in Kansas City and verified by staff with the KDWP's fisheries division. 'It was just a lot,' Mayer said. 'Everything started hitting, the process of getting it weighed and everything.' The KDWP told Mayer his fish was around 23-years-old after he brought it in. He said he tried to keep it alive as best he could but thinks the process of reeling it in put too much stress on the fish. 'What I didn't understand was a fish that big and that old just doesn't have the reserve capacity,' Mayer said. 'The fight just wore her out so much she didn't recover.' Exotic pet fish are turning up in Kansas lakes, where do they come from? Mayer said he wants to try and get a replica made to commemorate his record catch. He shared some advice for other anglers looking to land a potential trophy catch. 'One of the biggest pieces of advice that was given to me and took to heart is you've gotta put the time in,' Mayer said. 'You take that advice and mold it to what you believe. You can ask all the advice in the world but you have to get out there and put it to use. It's just time on the water.' The last state fishing record to be broken in Kansas was a Redear sunfish caught in 2023. You can learn more about what it takes to set a new state fishing record by clicking here. Biologists find, study what's left of the world record flathead catfish caught in Kansas For more Kansas Outdoors, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
09-07-2025
- Daily Mail
German cops execute catfish with three gunshots to the head after it attacked swimmers - prompting fury from animal rights groups
German police are facing furious backlash from animal rights groups after shooting a catfish in the head three times. Officers shot the crazed creature after it was 'driven mad by techno music' and attacked five swimmers in Lake Brombach, Bavaria on June 22. The victims suffered mild to moderate bite wounds and were treated by emergency teams. It is believed the Wels catfish, which was around two metres in length and weighed more than 90kg, was provoked by pumping beats from a nearby festival. After the swimmers were attacked, a guard moved out on his boat in an attempt to guide the culprit away. But this caused further agitation, and the police were called. Officers made the decision to kill the animal, reasoning that it would be impractical to close the surrounding area and citing the risk to swimmers and festival goers. A policeman attempted to shoot the fish three times but failed to neutralise it. Fishermen then managed to hook the animal and pull it to shore, where it was shot dead. This could have been the end of the saga, but rather than keeping the killing under wraps, the force decided to issue a press release together with a photograph of the officers posing next to the body. The execution soon went viral and sparked fury from animal rights groups. The German branch of the organisation Peta announced that it was lodging criminal charges over the 'extremely painful, slow and above all unnecessary and illegal death of the catfish.' Days later, it transpired that the policeman had not managed to kill the catfish as none of the three bullets had penetrated its skin. Instead, they had most likely merely stunned the fish, leaving fishermen to administer the final blow roughly 40 minutes later. The species can grow up to three meters long, weigh 200kg, and live up to 100 years old, but they are not usually dangerous or known for biting. Fish scientists suggested the animal had probably been trying to protect its eggs during spawning season and that it might have been further agitated by the Burning Beach festival - which was taking place nearby. Fish are thought to become stressed by persistent or sudden noises. Sounds can increase their cortisol levels, according to research from the Journal of Experimental Biology. Professor Robert Arlinghaus, a scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Water Research in Berlin, told local press: 'The catfish stores its spawn near the shore. 'If a swimmer approaches, it sometimes defends the offspring.' It comes after a husband and wife fishing team have caught a record-breaking catfish that weighed a staggering 150lbs in January. It took Shaun and Chloe Ing 90 minutes to reel in the eight-foot long fish from Chigborough Fisheries, in Essex, and two friends to lift it from the water. Upon weighing the enormous marine animal, it was found to have been seven pounds heavier than the existing British record, a 143lb catfish caught in Essex in 2024. Wels catfish, the type most commonly found in Europe, are generally 3.9ft-5.2ft in length. The couple said they had just ordered a Chinese takeaway that had arrived as the fish bit the bait, which ended up being ruined in the scuffle. Shaun said the monster fish was 'unstoppable' after it took his bait.
Times
08-07-2025
- Times
How the killing of one cantankerous catfish is dividing Germany
For the past three weeks, the German public has been gripped by a saga featuting more twists than a bag of pretzels. It is not the looming return of conscription, the intra-coalition dispute over the electricity tax or a rebellion in the ranks of the Social Democratic party (SPD) but the execution of a giant cantankerous catfish, apparently with a police service pistol. By now, the basic facts of the case are well established. In the middle of June a Wels catfish, roughly two metres long and weighing a little more than 90kg (14st 2lb), started attacking bathers who ventured too close to a diving platform in Lake Brombach, a reservoir in northern Bavaria. It inflicted mild to moderate bite wounds on five people before the local police force was called in. Reasoning that it would be impractical to close the surrounding area to swimmers and fretting that the belligerent siluriform's next victim might panic and drown, officers decided to neutralise it. One of them shot the catfish three times with a regulation-issue handgun before a group of anglers helped lug it to shore. That might have been the end of the story had the force not decided to issue a press release together with a photograph of the officers posing next to the body. The killing soon went viral. The German branch of the animal rights organisation Peta announced that it was lodging criminal charges over the 'extremely painful, slow and above all unnecessary and illegal death of the catfish'. Ichthyologists — fish scientists — suggested it had probably been trying to protect its eggs during spawning season and that it might have been further agitated by an electronic music festival taking place near by. Days later, it transpired that the policeman had not managed to kill the catfish as none of the three bullets had penetrated its skin. Instead, they had probably stunned the fish and it was the fishermen who had administered the coup de grâce some 40 minutes later. Internet users turned out hundreds of memes commemorating the incident. One wrote a parody of a sentimental hit by the rock star Herbert Grönemeyer; another mocked up a pastiche of the film poster for Jaws. Others suggested the fish had been the German version of Harambe, a silverback gorilla that was shot dead at Cincinnati Zoo in 2016 after it grabbed a four-year-old boy who had fallen into its enclosure. Der Postillon, the country's most popular satirical magazine, published at least five articles inserting the fish into various political and diplomatic incidents, such as President Trump's promise to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine within 24 hours. Columnists at the more serious end of the German press sought a deeper meaning in the shooting. Was the catfish a victim of climate change? Was it a parable of humanity's brutal relationship with the natural world? Or was it, as one essayist suggested in the newspaper Die Zeit, a 'cautionary political tale with a Shakespearean quality', comparable to Hamlet, Macbeth and Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan? Others had more practical matters on their mind. The catfish was taken to the Gasthoff zum Goldenen Lamm restaurant in nearby Wettelsheim, chopped into 120 fillets and served with herby potatoes, wild garlic sauce and a medley of summer vegetables for €22.50 per plate. The owner said people had travelled from as far afield as Munich, about two hours away, for a taste of its 'delicious and tender' flesh. Yet that was not the end of the story. Last week, in what can only be construed as an act of solidarity, another catfish in the same reservoir attacked a bather. The latest crisis of German political life continues.
