Soon after TikTok was effectively acquired by U.S. capital, it was engulfed in a censorship controversy, triggering a "digital exodus" as young users flocked to the fledgling platform "UpScrolled." With concerns rising over collusion between big tech corporations and political power since the launch of the Donald Trump administration, alternatives that claim there is no risk of algorithmic manipulation appear to be benefiting.
On the 5th (local time), according to Forbes, a U.S. business outlet, and TechCrunch, an IT magazine, as of early February this year the social media app "UpScrolled" ranked No. 1 in the Apple App Store's free app institutional sector. It beat both ChatGPT and Threads, a social media service rolled out by Meta.
UpScrolled was virtually unknown when it launched in June last year. But subscriptions surged after TikTok sold its U.S. business rights in January this year. The number of subscribers, which stood at about 150,000 in early January, surpassed 2.5 million in less than a month. A sudden influx of traffic even caused a temporary server outage.
ByteDance Ltd., TikTok's parent company, in January signed a deal to hand over a majority of equity in its U.S. business to a consortium of U.S. investment firms including Oracle and Silver Lake. Oracle founder Larry Ellison is known as a prominent pro-Trump figure and a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Immediately after the acquisition, a series of claims surfaced that posts critical of President Trump or opposing the hard-line policies of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were not being shown on TikTok. Allegations of a "shadow ban" (covert blocking) also emerged, saying posts related to Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted on charges of child sexual exploitation, or videos supporting Palestine were being deleted or saw their views plunge.
UpScrolled, by contrast, billed itself as a "censorship-free clean zone" and absorbed refugees leaving TikTok. The app offers a service that blends TikTok's core short-form video feature with Instagram's photo sharing and X's (formerly Twitter) text functions. Its biggest hallmark is the exclusion of artificial algorithms. It shows posts from accounts a user follows in chronological order and emphasizes that it does not intentionally hide or spotlight specific content.
UpScrolled founder Isam Hijazi is a developer of Palestinian descent from Australia. Hijazi worked at big tech corporations such as Oracle and IBM. At the recent Web Summit event in Doha, Qatar, Hijazi said, "Big tech corporations sell user data to pocket revenue and censor content based on political bias," adding, "I decided to start the company after watching meaningful stories disappear behind algorithms."
Experts interpret this phenomenon not as a simple "app switch" but as part of a "digital sovereignty movement." The analysis is that global backlash against the U.S.-centric big tech ecosystem has created demand for alternative platforms. Rest of World, a global technology outlet, reported, "There is a clear move in Europe and Asia to reduce dependence on U.S. technology," adding, "France has banned public officials from using U.S.-made technology, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has adopted Switzerland's secure mail 'Proton' instead of Microsoft as a representative example."
Jayden Sadowski, a senior researcher at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University in Australia, said, "Backlash against U.S. technology corporations stems from the perception that technology is not neutral," and assessed, "This trend is not a passing fad but the beginning of long-term change."
Still, it remains uncertain whether a fledgling platform can turn early interest into sustained growth. Researcher Sadowski noted, "Many startups still rely on Silicon Valley venture capital, so fundraising will be the biggest challenge." UpScrolled founder Hijazi also said, "The key is how to maintain early interest," while adding, "The public is realizing they have been used by big tech and are seeking alternatives."