Is AWDTSG shut down? Where the groups stand in October 2026
Last checked October 3, 2026 · Shield Date is not affiliated with AWDTSG or the Tea App
- The official network is mostly paused, not deleted. Paused groups keep every post already in them.
- Some official groups are still running. Las Vegas, for example, shows new posts every day.
- Copycat groups are busier than ever, and much of the traffic has moved to smaller groups.
- The Tea App saw a significant activity increase, with hundreds of posts a day in big cities.
- It may come back. The groups have been paused and restored before, and a web version has been hinted at.
What the founder announced
Paola Sanchez started Are We Dating The Same Guy in New York in 2022 and grew it into a network of more than 200 Facebook groups. On September 3, 2026 she warned members she “cannot guarantee that this group will still be here tomorrow.”
Overnight on September 10–11, she announced she had decided to shut down all of the groups. She promised a fuller explanation later, and told members to follow her private Instagram and TikTok for updates. She has also hinted at a web version of AWDTSG, off Facebook.
Paused is not the same as gone
Most official groups were paused, not deleted. A paused Facebook group stops new posts and comments, but everything already posted stays exactly where it was.
And this has happened before:
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Some regional groups, including Vancouver and Adelaide, go dark. |
| 2024 | Groups run under tight restrictions after a defamation lawsuit. |
| Mar 2026 | Posting is paused across the network. |
| Jun 2026 | Posting resumes with stricter rules, after an appeals court throws out that lawsuit. |
| Sep 2026 | The shutdown is announced. Most groups are paused. |
Each time, the groups came back. Pausing instead of deleting keeps a group, its members and its history intact while it is under pressure, including pressure from Facebook’s own rules on groups that collect strikes.
And some groups are coming back right now. Since the pause, several of the biggest groups that Facebook had removed in the past have been reinstated, the Chicago group among them, with 146,000 members.
Where the posting went
Official groups that are still up
Not every official group went quiet. Some are still active, with new posts every day showing in their public activity panel. AWDTSG groups by city lists every official US group and its size.
Copycat groups
The network has long warned about copycat groups using its name. There are hundreds, many of them posting every day, and with the big groups paused, a lot of the traffic has shifted to these smaller groups. They are scattered all around the USA, and regionally focused.
The Tea App
Apple pulled the Tea App from the App Store in October 2025, but it kept running as a website, and activity there has significantly picked up since the groups paused. Where the Tea App stands in 2026.
A possible AWDTSG website
The founder of the AWDTSG groups has hinted at a website version, but nothing has launched yet. If it does, posts would sit outside Facebook, so Facebook’s report and copyright tools would no longer apply to them. That site’s own rules would.
What this means if you’ve been posted
A shutdown didn’t erase anything. Old posts still sit in paused groups, and screenshots and reposts travel on their own. New posts are now spread across more, smaller places than before. Finding them means knowing which groups are live and which copycat covers your city.
If you find a post with your own photo in it, the removal route hasn’t changed: here is the free AWDTSG removal guide.
Common questions about the AWDTSG shutdown
Partly. The founder announced on September 10–11, 2026 that every group in the official network would shut down, and most of those groups are now paused. Some official groups are still posting, and many unofficial copycat groups were never part of the shutdown.
No. Pausing a Facebook group stops new posts and comments, but what was already posted stays in the group.
Yes. Some official groups, such as Las Vegas, still show new posts every day in their public activity panel, and all copycat groups are active daily.
Nobody outside the network knows yet. Groups have been paused and brought back before, in 2024 and again in 2026, and the founder has hinted at a web version. She has told members to follow her private Instagram and TikTok for updates.
Yes, for any group that is on Facebook, paused or not, copycat or official. If your own photo is in the post, Facebook’s copyright form is still the route that works. If posts move to a separate website, that site’s own rules will apply instead.
Found a post with your photo in it? The free AWDTSG removal guide walks you through getting it taken down.
Find out where you stand now
With posts spread across paused groups, live groups, copycats and the Tea App, a person searches the Tea App and the AWDTSG groups covering your region by hand and sends you screenshots, the links, and proof of where we looked. Answered in hours, not days.
Find out where you're posted →Sources: News 5 Cleveland (September 30, 2026), Yahoo News (June 4, 2026), and each group’s public activity panel. Shield Date is an independent service and is not affiliated with Are We Dating The Same Guy, the Tea App or Facebook. This page will be updated as things change.