Brief-form video platform UpScrolled has climbed the app charts in world app shops amid person dissatisfaction with TikTok’s moderation practices and up to date algorithm adjustments.
The Australian-run upstart software has appeared from nowhere in latest months bouyed by the latest buyout of TikTok within the US by Larry Ellison’s Oracle Group and a consortium of different traders after US President Donald Trump compelled its Chinese language former proprietor ByteDance, to relinquish management over fears it was getting used towards US pursuits, together with accusations of spying.
The UpScrolled app has additionally grown in common partly resulting from its Palestinian-Jordanian-Australian proprietor Issam Hijazi, who can also be a vocal critic of the Israeli authorities within the West Financial institution and Gaza, in accordance with earlier interviews with him.
It markets itself as providing fewer content material restrictions and a simplified feed that surfaces posts based mostly on direct person interplay moderately than automated advice techniques.
“We don’t push agendas—political, business, or in any other case. Our guidelines are clear and utilized evenly. Our rating is explainable, our selections accountable, and affect comes with duty,” the app writes on its web site.
App retailer knowledge reveals the platform reached second place amongst free downloads within the UK over the previous week, and third within the US and Canada. The platform’s rise follows widespread complaints from creators about decreased visibility and unexplained content material removals.
Many customers cite frustration with what they describe as “shadowbanning”, a observe TikTok has not confirmed however which creators incessantly reference when discussing declining attain. TikTok has beforehand said that its techniques restrict materials that breaches group tips or poses security dangers.
Market intelligence agency Appfigures estimates round 41,000 Upscrolled downloads between a single Thursday–Saturday window in late January 2026, roughly one‑third of its lifetime installs and a 2,850% soar in each day downloads. Experiences additionally say the app has reached about 140,000 complete downloads up to now, with round 75,000 in america.
Upscrolled markets itself as a clear different to mainstream social media, promising no shadowbans, chronological feed choices, and “human‑led” moderation, which is attracting creators who fear about algorithmic suppression.
Utilization‑analytics knowledge from Similarweb nonetheless reveals modest rankings in lots of markets with a number of European markets not displaying the identical sort of recognition at present.
Hijazi stated he constructed Upscrolled final yr to fight what he calls “systematic shadowbanning of pro-Palestine content material” on mainstream platforms. Yahoo Tech reported on January 26.
“UpScrolled is the inspiration for a digital ecosystem that places energy again into the fingers of the individuals — not the companies,” Hijazi stated. “We recognise Palestine since 1948 and earlier than that, proper?” he stated in a LinkedIn publish on January 24.
