A social media app has surged to become one of the most-downloaded applications in the United States, capitalising on user concerns following major changes to TikTok's ownership.
Upscrolled, a social media app created by Palestinian-Jordanian-Australian Issam Hijazi, promises to empower people worldwide by creating a space where they can “freely express thoughts, share moments and connect with others”.
The app is the most-downloaded social media app in the United States and Canada and has seen surges of interest in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy, according to the US Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
The interest in Upscrolled comes shortly after ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, signed an agreement with three major American investors to form a new TikTok-US joint venture.
Shortly after the restructuring, users said they were not able to post anti-Trump videos or send messages with the word “Epstein.”
What does the app do?
Upscrolled, launched in mi-2025, has a similar layout to Instagram, where users can share instant “stories” about what is going on in their lives or post photos or text straight to the news feed for their friends to comment on and share.
It is also similar to X, in that users can follow hashtags or trends for popular topics in their area. There is also a “Discovery Page,” similar to Snapchat or Instagram, that allows users to view the platform’s most popular videos.
Upscrolled collects some data from users, including their personal information, location, photos, and videos, along with some information about how they use the app, according to a description on the Android and iOS store.
That information is mostly collected for fraud prevention, security and account management, but will not share anything with third parties, the company says.
Users can also delete the information gathered through the app when they create an account.
The platform jumped from 150,000 users after its launch to 2.5 million users through word-of-mouth, according to a video from Hijazi posted on Smashi TV, a Middle Eastern business and tech social media channel.
“Our community is growing at a pace that I only could have dreamt of,” he said in the video.
Hijazi said he was born in Jordan and his parents and grandparents are from Safad, a northeastern Palestinian city near the Lebanese border.
“Since 2023, so many things have changed for me and my family,” he said. “I lost so many family members in Gaza and I watched first-hand as meaningful stories disappeared from feeds, while harmful disinformation thrived.”
On Hijazi’s LinkedIn page, he said he’s led data and artificial intelligence (AI) strategies with Oracle, one of the new co-owners of US TikTok, Japanese conglomerate Hitachi and IBM.
“The technology that [Big Tech] they provided for certain regimes have enabled the killing of people … in Gaza,” during the Israel-Hamas conflict, Hijazi said at Web Summit Qatar.
“These companies are really after profit, they’re not really about ethics,” he said. “They’re not creating something for humanity, they’re generating something to generate more revenue.”
Hijazi’s app isn’t the first to rival TikTok. During the short-lived US TikTok ban last year, users flocked to the Chinese app RedNote.
Meanwhile, ahead of restrictions on under-16 accounts, teenagers in Australia began moving to alternative platforms, including Lemon8, TikTok's sister company, as well as the "safe" video-sharing app Coverstar and livestreaming app Tango.
