UpScrolled, launched in 2025, is a social media platform designed to give users a space to freely express thoughts, share moments, and connect with others.

The platform emphasizes transparency, authenticity, and trust, promising that every post has a fair chance to be seen.

Its mission is to provide a user-first environment, free from hidden algorithms, shadowbanning, or pay-to-play favoritism.

The platform’s feed remains chronological, unlike many other apps, and UpScrolled only restricts content that violates community guidelines or widely accepted legal and ethical standards.

This includes content involving illegal activity, hate speech, harassment, explicit nudity, unlicensed copyrighted material, or anything intended to cause harm.

Founder’s Motivation and Vision

UpScrolled was founded by Issam Hijazi, a Palestinian-Jordanian-Australian technologist with experience at IBM, Oracle, and Hitachi.

According to Hijazi, the platform was born from his frustration with social media algorithms that drowned out meaningful content and prioritized engagement over authentic voices.

In response to global events and personal loss, Hijazi decided to create an alternative social network:

“I couldn’t take it any more. I lost family members in Gaza, and I didn’t want to be complicit. So I was like, I’m done with this, I want to feel useful. I found this gap in the market, with a lot of people asking why there is no alternative to the Big Tech platforms for their content, which was getting censored. So I thought, why don’t we build our own? I just rolled up my sleeves and built it.”

Hijazi emphasizes that UpScrolled is not designed to keep users scrolling endlessly, unlike other platforms. He states:

“It’s not because we don’t know how: it is very easy to design the algorithms to do that. But I don’t want to do that because I know the effect it can have on people, mentally, especially the younger generation.”

Platform Features and User Experience

UpScrolled combines elements of Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok. It includes:

• Chronological Feed: Posts appear in order of publication.
• Content Variety: Users can post text, photos, short-form videos, carousels, and stories.
• Discover Page: Users can explore trending topics and hashtags, currently dominated by posts about Palestine.
• Fair Algorithms: No content or groups receive unfair advantages; visibility is based on engagement rather than hidden factors.
• No Shadowbans: Content is not secretly suppressed, and the platform does not practice pay-to-play favoritism.

The app is currently experimenting with AI-based feed ranking for the Discover Page, but user control and transparency remain central.

Rapid Growth Amid TikTok Turmoil

UpScrolled saw a surge in users after TikTok faced US ownership changes in January 2026 and experienced outages caused by a power failure at an Oracle data center.

TikTok users concerned about potential content censorship, especially regarding pro-Palestine posts and coverage of ICE actions, turned to UpScrolled as an alternative.

Sensor Tower data shows that UpScrolled had been downloaded about 400,000 times in the US and 700,000 globally since its June 2025 launch.

Between January 21–27, 2026, 85% of US downloads occurred, coinciding with TikTok’s transition to a US-controlled entity.

By late January 2026, UpScrolled reached No. 1 in the social networking category on Apple’s US App Store, surpassing Threads, WhatsApp, and TikTok.

It ranked No. 6 among free apps on Google Play for Android users, reflecting growing international interest.

Community and Influencer Engagement

High-profile users joined the platform early, including:

• Chris Smalls, American labor activist and former Amazon Union organizer.
• Jacob Berger, Jewish-American actor and activist, both involved in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2025.

Users predominantly post text and photo updates, with content related to Palestine currently trending.

The surge in users initially caused server crashes, which UpScrolled addressed with infrastructure updates.

The platform is also backed by Tech for Palestine, an advocacy project supporting pro-Palestine tech initiatives, further emphasizing its commitment to providing an uncensored and user-centered social media space.

PHOTO: 9TO5MAC

This article is a summary of several original articles. The full versions can be read at the following links:

https://upscrolled.com/en/about/

https://www.businessinsider.com/upscrolled-surging-downloads-popularity-some-tiktok-users-flock-elsewhere-2026-1

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/29/whats-upscrolled-the-app-gaining-popularity-after-tiktoks-us-takeover

This article was created with AI assistance.

We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our content, some information may be incorrect or outdated. Please let us know of any corrections at [email protected].