Palestinian-founded UpScrolled, draws users as TikTok faces scrutiny

App says it provides censorship-free space in the wake of free speech restrictions across other social media platforms

A new social media app, UpScrolled, is seeing a large influx of new users as TikTok’s US Ellison-Oracle takeover prompts renewed concerns about content moderation, censorship and repressive state ownership.

UpScrolled claimed in posts on X this week that more than one million users had joined the platform over the past seven days and that the app had ranked among the top three free downloads in the UK, US and Australia.

pic.twitter.com/69Wd20Dujb

— UpScrolled (@realUpScrolled) January 29, 2026

Top 10. Three countries. Overnight.
🇺🇸 #5 🇦🇺#6 🇬🇧 #8
Zero ad spend. Zero permission asked.
Just people who wanted something different - and found each other. pic.twitter.com/u9aJGWncIX

— UpScrolled (@realUpScrolled) January 26, 2026

According to The Verge, reports of Larry Ellison-backed ownership changes at TikTok prompted some users to delete the app and migrate to alternatives, including UpScrolled. The publication reported that the app ranked first among free apps on Samsung’s Play Store in the US as of January 30 and was experiencing strain due to rapid user growth.

The platform has been promoted online as an alternative to established social media services such as TikTok, X and Instagram, with some users reporting higher engagement levels on UpScrolled compared to their posts on larger platforms.

Lets compare UpScrolled and x

X: 161.5K Followers
UpScrolled: 1.5K Followers

Posted the same thing on both for about 25-30 min

X with the more followers got 28 engagement vs UpScrolled that got 73 engagements.

This is what happens when apps censor. People leave to where… pic.twitter.com/lv7lnRRPvJ

— Ryan Rozbiani (@RyanRozbiani) January 27, 2026

My engagement on UpScrolled with 60 followers is better than on X with 19,000 followers... Houston, we have a problem! pic.twitter.com/arlTUGAzVI

— Knoxie (@KnoxieLuv) January 26, 2026

Some users said they switched to UpScrolled following reports that Oracle and a group of investors had assumed control of TikTok’s US operations, citing concerns over censorship and platform governance.

I posted the same video on TikTok and Upscrolled

After 5 hours the video on TikTok is still being processed. On Upscrolled it already has over 350 likes.

Upscrolled is the future. pic.twitter.com/dJMI4W9sjq

— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) January 26, 2026

Made by Australian-Palestinian Issam Hijazi, UpScrolled describes itself as a platform for sharing photos, videos and text posts, and says it aims to remain “impartial” to political agendas.

Hijazi began the project in late 2023 after observing "meaningful stories" about the Gaza genocide disappear from mainstream feeds across Meta apps and others due to alleged shadowbanning and algorithmic suppression. The app officially launched in June 2025 with support from the Tech for Palestine incubator.

Appfigures data cited by The Verge showed that UpScrolled was downloaded about 41,000 times between Thursday and Saturday last week, averaging roughly 14,000 downloads per day, nearly 29 times higher than its previous daily average.

UpScrolled’s pitch centres on how content is distributed. In its FAQs, the company says its “following” feed is fully chronological, while its “discover” feed ranks posts based on likes, comments and reshares, with time-based decay and limited randomness. The company also says it does not shadowban content.

Tired of shadowbanning, censorship, and platforms deciding what you should or shouldn’t see?

Download UpScrolled today and scroll differently!#Censorship #Shadowbanned #FreedomOfSpeech #tiktok #x #meta #instagram pic.twitter.com/zhQSXwfYNV

— UpScrolled (@realUpScrolled) October 2, 2025

The company says it restricts only content that violates its community guidelines or widely accepted legal and ethical standards, including illegal activity, hate speech, harassment, explicit nudity, copyright violations and material intended to cause harm.

UpScrolled also promotes a strict privacy policy, stating that it does not sell user data or share it with third parties for marketing or profiling purposes.

Questions remain about how the platform will fund continued growth. UpScrolled says it is operated by Recursive Methods Pty Ltd in Australia and is privately funded by Hijazi and a small group of individual investors. The company says it currently has no corporate, government or venture capital ownership, though it may consider venture funding in the future under governance conditions aligned with human rights and responsible business practices.

On monetisation, the company said it may introduce advertising while avoiding third-party tracking and personal data-based targeting. It also said creator monetisation tools, including payouts and branded content options, are planned.