UpScrolled Hits 2.5M Users: How This TikTok Alternative Exploded [2025]

Introduction: The Social Network That Grew 16x in a Month

Imagine launching a social network and watching it grow from 150,000 to 2.5 million users in a single month. That's not a startup fantasy. That's what actually happened with Up Scrolled.

Back in January 2026, when TikTok went through its ownership restructuring in the United States—shifting to a new structure involving investors like Silver Lake and Oracle while ByteDance retained a minority stake—users panicked. There was genuine uncertainty about whether the platform would survive, what content restrictions might come, and whether the algorithm that once governed their feeds would change overnight. That uncertainty created a vacuum. Into that vacuum stepped Up Scrolled.

The platform's founder, Issam Hijazi, made waves during his presentation at Web Summit Qatar by revealing numbers that seemed almost unbelievable. He wasn't just talking about steady growth. He was talking about explosive, viral adoption at a scale that most startups spend years trying to achieve.

But here's what makes Up Scrolled interesting—it's not just riding the TikTok panic wave. It's proposing a fundamentally different philosophy for how social networks should work. No shadowbanning. No algorithmic suppression based on political views. No selective censorship. Instead, Up Scrolled pitches itself as a platform that respects user autonomy while maintaining community guidelines that comply with regional laws.

This article breaks down what Up Scrolled actually is, how it grew so fast, what challenges it faces, and what its emergence tells us about the future of social media. Because whether you like it or not, the TikTok moment of January 2026 cracked open the entire social media landscape. Platforms like Up Scrolled, Bluesky, and others didn't just benefit from that crack—they're actively widening it.

Let's dig into the numbers, the philosophy, and the very real obstacles ahead.

TL; DR

• Explosive Growth: Up Scrolled grew from 150,000 to 2.5 million users between January and early February 2026, a 16x increase in roughly 30 days
• TikTok Catalyst: The growth spike coincided directly with TikTok's U.S. ownership restructuring, creating user uncertainty and migration opportunities
• Anti-Algorithm Positioning: Up Scrolled explicitly rejects algorithmic suppression, shadowbanning, and selective censorship, positioning itself as an alternative to Big Tech practices
• Content Moderation Challenge: While the platform promises no censorship, it acknowledges the need for community guidelines and regional legal compliance, creating a tension between openness and moderation
• Investor Interest Without Funding: Despite public silence on funding, Hijazi confirmed investor interest, suggesting potential Series A or strategic investment incoming

UpScrolled's user base surged from 150,000 to 2.5 million within 30 days, coinciding with TikTok's ownership changes. Estimated data based on narrative.

The January 2026 TikTok Moment: How Uncertainty Created Opportunity

To understand Up Scrolled's explosion, you need to understand what happened to TikTok in January 2026.

For years, TikTok had been a political lightning rod in the United States. Congress worried about data flows to ByteDance. The Trump administration proposed bans. The Biden administration negotiated. Throughout 2025, the uncertainty never really settled.

Then January 2026 arrived, and the restructuring went live. The ownership structure shifted dramatically. Silver Lake, Oracle, and other investors took majority control. ByteDance kept 20%. The app came back online after a brief blackout.

But here's the psychological part that matters: even though TikTok returned, trust had been shattered. Users had spent weeks thinking the app might disappear forever. They'd downloaded alternatives. They'd started exploring other platforms. And even after TikTok came back, the question lingered: "Is this going to happen again? Should I hedge my bets?"

Up Scrolled launched roughly six months before this moment, according to Hijazi. For those six months, it grew slowly and methodically. 150,000 users by early January. Nothing remarkable. It was a competent alternative to Instagram and TikTok, but it didn't have the network effects or cultural momentum to compete with the incumbents.

Then the TikTok moment happened, and suddenly 150,000 users became 1 million within days. Within weeks, it hit 2.5 million.

This isn't unique. Bluesky, the AT Protocol-based alternative to X (formerly Twitter), also saw explosive growth following Elon Musk's controversial decisions at X. Skylight, another AT Protocol-based competitor, crossed 380,000 users in the days following the TikTok deal finalization.

The pattern is clear: trust crisis plus existing alternative equals migration opportunity.

What Is Up Scrolled? The Philosophy Behind the Platform

On the surface, Up Scrolled looks like a mashup of Instagram and X. You post content. People comment. It has feeds and discovery. Pretty standard.

But the differentiation isn't in the interface. It's in the underlying philosophy and the promises about how the platform operates.

Hijazi was explicit about this during his Web Summit Qatar presentation. He called out major tech companies for unethical practices:

• Data harvesting: "They don't care about selling your data to someone else if that means profit for them."
• Mental health exploitation: "They will design something just to keep you addicted to using that platform as long as it's profitable for them."
• Selective suppression: He specifically accused major platforms of suppressing pro-Palestinian content while selectively censoring other voices.

Up Scrolled's positioning is essentially: "We won't do that."

No algorithmic amplification or suppression of certain viewpoints. No shadowbanning based on political alignment. No data-hungry recommendation engine designed to maximize engagement at the expense of well-being. No selective censorship.

Instead, the platform promises transparency. If you post something, it's visible. If it gets suppressed, it's because it violates community guidelines, not because an algorithm decided your viewpoint is unpopular.

This positioning resonates deeply with a specific audience: creators who feel suppressed by incumbent platforms, politically engaged users who distrust algorithmic manipulation, and people generally fatigued by the exploitative engagement tactics of major social networks.

But there's a catch, which Hijazi acknowledged. The platform has acknowledged that community guidelines are necessary. Why? Because:

1. Porn and nudity have already become problems on the platform
2. Different regions have different legal requirements
3. Hosting literally any content creates liability and operational issues

So Up Scrolled is building out a team of experts to craft community guidelines. The company is also taking user feedback into account. This suggests the platform won't be a complete free-for-all, even if that's what some users might want.

Ads remain the highest potential revenue model, but hybrid approaches offer a balanced alternative. Estimated data based on industry trends.

The Growth Numbers: 16x in 30 Days

Let's break down the actual growth trajectory, because it's remarkable:

Timeline:

• 6 months before January 2026: Up Scrolled launches
• Early January 2026: Platform reaches 150,000 users
• Late January 2026: Surpasses 1 million users (roughly 6-7x growth)
• Early February 2026: Hits 2.5 million users (16x growth from the January starting point)

To put this in perspective, here's what 2.5 million users means:

Up Scrolled's trajectory is somewhere between Threads' leverage-based explosion and Bluesky's sustained alternative-seeking growth. But here's what makes it different: Up Scrolled didn't have an existing parent company's user base to leverage. It had to earn its users organically.

The implications of this growth are significant:

1. Market demand is real: There's genuine appetite for social platforms that don't rely on algorithmic manipulation
2. Network effects can be overcome: Even Instagram and TikTok's network effects can be disrupted by trust crises
3. Rapid growth is possible: The barrier to 2.5M users isn't technological anymore—it's trust and timing

The Anti-Algorithm Promise: How Up Scrolled Differs from Incumbents

When Hijazi talks about what Up Scrolled won't do, he's describing the core frustrations users have with Instagram, TikTok, and X.

What incumbents do:

They use algorithmic feeds. Instagram's recommendation engine analyzes everything you interact with, everything you search for, how long you spend on posts, what you save, what you share, and builds a profile of your interests. Then it uses that profile to decide which content to show you first, which to bury, and which to suppress entirely.

This creates perverse incentives. Posts that generate anger or controversy get more engagement (comments, shares), so the algorithm amplifies them. Posts from accounts the algorithm has decided are "unpopular" get deprioritized, regardless of quality. If you post something political or controversial, the algorithm might shadowban you—reducing your reach without explanation.

Content creators feel this constantly. They don't get transparency about why a post underperformed. They don't understand the rules they're breaking. They just watch their reach decline mysteriously.

What Up Scrolled promises instead:

A chronological or user-controlled feed. No algorithmic suppression based on viewpoint. No shadowbanning. All enforcement happens explicitly—if content violates guidelines, it gets removed, but the user knows why and when.

But here's the tension: an algorithm-free social network has fundamental problems.

Without algorithms:

• New users see a firehose of content and struggle to find quality
• Spammers and bots have easier times flooding the platform
• Niche communities are harder to discover
• Viral moments are driven purely by user sharing, not amplification

Up Scrolled seems to be planning a middle path. Chronological feeds or user control as the default, but human moderation and community guidelines to handle actual rule violations. No algorithmic suppression, but not a complete free-for-all either.

This is actually what many power users on X wanted after Elon's changes. It's what creators on Instagram have been begging for. The appetite for this is real.

The Content Moderation Catch: No Censorship Doesn't Mean No Rules

Here's where the philosophy meets reality.

Up Scrolled has already had problems. Hijazi acknowledged that porn and nudity are flooding the platform. That's what happens when you launch as "no shadowbanning, no censorship." Some users interpret that as "anything goes."

But "no shadowbanning" doesn't mean "no moderation." And Hijazi was clear about this: Up Scrolled will have community guidelines. The company is building a team of experts to define them. The guidelines will vary by region to comply with local laws.

This creates real tensions:

Tension 1: Who decides the guidelines? Up Scrolled says it's gathering experts. But which experts? Ethicists? Lawyers? Law enforcement? Community representatives? The decision-making process will determine whether guidelines are fair or biased.

Tension 2: How strict should they be? If Up Scrolled removes too much content, it becomes like Instagram. If it removes too little, it becomes an unmoderated mess. The sweet spot is incredibly narrow.

Tension 3: Enforcement visibility Up Scrolled promises transparency about enforcement. If a post gets removed, users should know why. But actually delivering on that requires systems, documentation, appeals processes. It's harder than shadowbanning, which requires nothing.

Tension 4: Global vs. local Different countries have wildly different speech laws. The EU has strict hate speech regulations. China requires government collaboration. India has intermediary rules. How does Up Scrolled navigate this without becoming either too restrictive or getting blocked?

These aren't philosophical problems anymore—they're operational. Bluesky, which launched with similar anti-algorithmic positioning, has been grappling with these exact questions for three years. The company has had to make controversial moderation decisions, implement labeling systems, and create community guidelines. The theory was cleaner than the practice.

Up Scrolled will face the same realities. The company can't actually operate without making moderation decisions. The question is whether it makes them transparently and fairly, or whether it eventually slides into the same patterns as incumbents.

UpScrolled experienced explosive growth from 150,000 to 1 million users following TikTok's restructuring in January 2026. (Estimated data)

Why Users Are Leaving TikTok, Instagram, and X

Up Scrolled's explosive growth isn't just about novelty. It's about genuine frustration with incumbent platforms.

The TikTok problem: Users don't trust the ownership structure. The U.S. government used TikTok as a political football. ByteDance is a Chinese company subject to Chinese government pressure. The algorithm is a black box. Users feel watched and controlled.

The Instagram problem: The platform prioritizes engagement over user well-being. The algorithm pushes content that makes you angry or insecure because anger and insecurity drive engagement. Meta has been caught repeatedly optimizing for engagement at the expense of user mental health. The feed is no longer chronological—it's optimized to keep you scrolling as long as possible. Creators can't predict why their content flops.

The X problem: Elon Musk's changes have been chaotic. Verification became expensive. Bots flooded the platform. The algorithm changed dramatically and unpredictably. Some creators saw their reach plummet overnight. The moderation became inconsistent and controversial. Users felt like the platform had become less welcoming.

The common thread: Lack of transparency, opaque algorithms, and incentive structures that prioritize engagement and revenue over user experience.

Up Scrolled's positioning directly attacks all three.

Funding and Investor Interest: The Money Question

Hijazi said in his Web Summit presentation that Up Scrolled "has been getting investor interest," but the company hasn't announced any formal funding rounds yet.

This is typical for startups in the "explosive growth" phase. When a company is growing 16x in a month, investors watch carefully. They want to see if the growth sustains or if it was just a temporary spike from the TikTok crisis.

Up Scrolled likely has runway (cash to operate on) from early-stage funding or founder capital. But Series A and beyond requires demonstrating that growth is durable and that the platform can actually build a sustainable business.

The monetization question is open:

• Ads? (Like Instagram and TikTok)
• Subscriptions? (Like Bluesky's premium tier)
• A hybrid model? (Free tier with ads, paid tier without)
• Something else entirely?

Historically, ad-free social platforms struggle because venture investors expect significant returns. Subscriptions don't generate the revenue that targeted ads do. So even if Up Scrolled wants to avoid data harvesting and algorithmic manipulation, it will eventually need a revenue model that satisfies investors.

This creates an inherent tension: venture investors fund growth and expect returns. That incentive structure can push even well-intentioned founders toward the same practices they initially criticized.

Competing Platforms: Up Scrolled in the Wider Ecosystem

Up Scrolled isn't the only alternative gaining traction.

Bluesky: Launched in 2023 as an alternative to X, backed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Uses the open AT Protocol, which theoretically allows anyone to build on it. Crossed 15+ million users following Elon's decisions at X. More focused on text and discussion than visual content. Has implemented features like custom feeds and open moderation. Facing real challenges: small user base compared to X, limited content library, modest venture funding.

Skylight (AT Protocol-based): Another AT Protocol-based platform, crossed 380,000 users in the days following the TikTok deal. Positions itself as a privacy-first alternative. Smaller than Bluesky, less mainstream visibility.

Threads: Meta's direct response to X's growth. Launched with Instagram's entire user base—reached 100 million users in 2 months. Focused on text-based sharing. But growth has plateaued significantly because it's owned by Meta, so users skeptical of Big Tech still don't trust it.

Mastodon: Decentralized, open-source Twitter alternative. Has been around longer than Bluesky. Small but dedicated user base. Harder to use because there's no central "main" server—you join a specific instance (server), which creates fragmentation.

Up Scrolled's advantage isn't uniqueness—it's timing and positioning. It's visually appealing (like Instagram and TikTok, unlike the text-heavy Bluesky and X alternatives). It's new enough to feel fresh. It's launched at the moment of maximum TikTok uncertainty. And it's explicitly positioning itself as the anti-algorithm, anti-manipulation alternative.

But here's the vulnerability: all of these platforms depend on retention. The users who flooded Up Scrolled in January might return to TikTok if it stabilizes and becomes trusted again. They might bounce between platforms based on where their friends are. Network effects still matter.

UpScrolled experienced explosive growth, reaching 2.5 million users in just 30 days after a slow initial phase. Estimated data.

The User Experience: What Up Scrolled Actually Feels Like

Based on descriptions and early user feedback, Up Scrolled combines the visual focus of Instagram with the social/discussion features of X.

What works:

• Posts with images, videos, and text
• Comments and threads
• Sharing and reposting
• User profiles
• Follow/follower relationships
• Chronological or user-controlled feeds
• Relatively clean, modern interface

What's missing or early:

• Discovery mechanisms (how do you find new content without algorithms?)
• Community moderation at scale
• Consistent content quality (inevitable with user-generated content)
• Clear monetization model
• Advanced creator tools (analytics, scheduling, etc.)

For power users on X and Instagram, Up Scrolled probably feels familiar enough to navigate immediately. The early adopters are people frustrated with incumbent platforms, so they're willing to tolerate a less feature-complete platform in exchange for the philosophy and promise.

But growth to 10+ million users will require the platform to feel compelling to more casual users too. People who just want to see photos from friends and cool content. People who don't have strong opinions about algorithmic suppression but do want an intuitive, high-quality experience.

That's where Up Scrolled will struggle. Because the philosophy of "no algorithms" makes it harder to show users content they'll actually like and want to engage with.

The Retention Challenge: Can Up Scrolled Keep These Users?

This is the real question.

Growing from 150K to 2.5M in a month is a success. Retaining 2.5M users and growing to 5M, 10M, and beyond is a completely different challenge.

History shows several patterns:

Pattern 1: Hype-driven collapse Be Real was supposed to be the anti-Instagram. It grew to millions of users in 2023. By 2024, usage had plummeted because the novelty wore off and the app didn't deliver compelling reasons to stay.

Pattern 2: Niche consolidation Mastodon has millions of users, but it's fragmented across thousands of servers. It settled into a niche audience: privacy-conscious users and tech enthusiasts. It never became mainstream.

Pattern 3: Feature parity trap Threads launched and immediately had millions of users from Meta. But as X improved its features and stability, and as Meta struggled to add features Threads users actually wanted, growth plateaued.

Pattern 4: Sustained alternative Bluesky is the closest to sustainable growth. It's been around for 2+ years. It's built community. Developers are building on its AT Protocol. It's not TikTok or X size, but it's not collapsing either.

Up Scrolled's path depends on:

1. Retention rate: What percentage of users who sign up actually return after 30, 60, 90 days?
2. Content ecosystem: Are creators (who drive engagement) investing in Up Scrolled?
3. Feature development: Can the team ship meaningful features that keep users engaged?
4. Monetization without compromising: Can they build revenue without reimplementing the exact same exploitative patterns they criticized?
5. International expansion: Is growth limited to English-speaking countries, or can they expand globally?

Each of these is hard. Collectively, they're very hard.

The Creator Problem: Why Creators Drive Platform Success

No social platform survives on casual users alone. It survives on creators.

Creators are the people who:

• Post consistently and thoughtfully
• Build audiences
• Create original content
• Attract casual users with compelling posts
• Engage in the community

Instagram became dominant partly because photographers and visual artists embraced it. TikTok exploded because dancers, comedians, and musicians found it more discoverable than YouTube. X (Twitter) became influential because journalists, researchers, and thought leaders used it.

For Up Scrolled to retain users, it needs creators. But creators have a problem: they're already established on Instagram, TikTok, and X. They have audiences there. Switching platforms means abandoning that audience.

Up Scrolled's anti-algorithm positioning might actually appeal to some creators. Creators hate shadowbanning. They hate unpredictable reach. They hate not knowing why a post underperformed. So there's genuine appeal for the creator community.

But Up Scrolled needs to solve the creator tools problem:

• Analytics: Creators need to understand their audience and what's working
• Monetization: Creators need to make money (ads, subscriptions, sponsorships, tips)
• Discovery: Creators need ways for new audiences to find them
• Cross-posting: Creators need tools to post to multiple platforms simultaneously

Without these, creators will treat Up Scrolled as a secondary platform at best, a testing ground at worst.

Estimated data shows a typical retention decline over 90 days, highlighting the challenge UpScrolled faces in maintaining user engagement.

Monetization: The Unsolved Problem

This is the hardest problem Up Scrolled faces.

Venture-backed startups don't survive on good intentions. They need revenue. Lots of it, eventually. But the revenue models available to social platforms are limited:

Ads (the incumbent model): Show targeted ads to users. Requires data collection and algorithmic targeting. This is what Instagram, TikTok, and X do. But it's exactly what Up Scrolled is supposedly rejecting.

You could do non-targeted, non-algorithmic ads (just random ads shown to everyone). But ads that aren't targeted are worth less to advertisers, so revenue would be lower. You'd need massive scale to compensate.

Subscriptions (the emerging alternative): Charge users directly. Bluesky does this: free tier with ads (or limited functionality), premium tier with extra features and no ads. This avoids the data collection problem.

But subscription revenue requires getting a significant percentage of your user base to pay. Even successful subscription services (Spotify, Netflix, Disney+) struggle to convert more than 10-20% of free users to paid. Social platforms especially struggle because the free tier is usually sufficient.

Hybrid: Combine ads (non-targeted or minimally targeted) with subscriptions. This is probably where Up Scrolled lands eventually.

Other models: Virtual gifts (users buy digital gifts to give to creators), creator funds (pay creators directly), marketplace fees (take a cut of transactions), etc. But these generate less revenue than ads or subscriptions.

The fundamental tension: Up Scrolled positioned itself as anti-exploitation. But monetizing social platforms often requires either exploiting user data or charging users money. Both are forms of extraction, just different types.

Hijazi might argue that user subscriptions are ethical extraction (users know what they're paying for), while data harvesting is not. That's a reasonable position. But it requires solving the subscription conversion problem, which is brutally hard.

Regional Legal Challenges: Operating Globally Is Hard

Up Scrolled is already a global platform with 2.5 million users spread across many countries. This creates legal complexity.

EU and Digital Services Act: The EU has strict content moderation requirements, hate speech rules, and privacy regulations (GDPR). Platforms must remove illegal content quickly and provide user data portability. This requires investment in moderation infrastructure.

India and intermediary rules: India requires platforms to respond to content removal requests quickly and maintain transparency reports. Non-compliance can result in losing safe harbor status.

China and collaboration: China technically blocks foreign social platforms, but operating there would require government collaboration and censorship. Up Scrolled probably won't try this.

Brazil and other regulations: Brazil has been increasingly strict with moderation requirements and has threatened to ban platforms that don't comply. Other countries follow similar patterns.

The challenge is that different countries have different rules. A post that's protected speech in the U.S. might be illegal hate speech in Germany. A creator tool that's legal in India might violate privacy laws in the EU.

Up Scrolled will need legal teams in multiple jurisdictions. This is expensive. It's one of the reasons why small platforms struggle to operate globally while large platforms (with large legal budgets) dominate.

Comparing Up Scrolled to Other Alternatives

Let's put Up Scrolled in context:

Up Scrolled's position is interesting: it has the growth momentum (2.5M in a month), the clear positioning (anti-algorithm, anti-censorship), and the visual appeal (Instagram-like), but it lacks the track record (only 6 months old), the monetization clarity, and the proof of retention.

Estimated data suggests that UpScrolled's user base may initially grow but could face retention challenges, with retention rates potentially improving over time.

The Podcast and Content Moderation Strategy

Hijazi mentioned that Up Scrolled is gathering a team of experts to solidify community guidelines. This is the smart move. Rather than launching with heavy-handed moderation (like Instagram or TikTok) or no moderation (like early 4chan or Gab), the platform is trying to build thoughtful guidelines from scratch.

The experts being recruited probably include:

• Legal experts to understand jurisdiction-specific requirements
• Ethicists to think through hard cases (where does criticism end and harassment begin?)
• Community managers who understand user expectations
• Safety researchers who understand how abuse happens online
• Technologists who can implement moderation at scale

The fact that Up Scrolled is taking user feedback into account is good. It suggests the company isn't creating guidelines in a vacuum. But it also creates challenges: users have contradictory expectations. Some want zero moderation. Others want strict moderation. Most want moderation that aligns with their specific values, which differ widely.

The real test will be the first controversial moderation decision. When Up Scrolled removes content that some users think should be allowed, or fails to remove content others think should be banned, the company will reveal its true priorities.

The Network Effects Problem: Why Switching Is Hard

Even with 2.5 million users, Up Scrolled faces a fundamental obstacle: network effects.

Network effects mean the value of a platform increases with every user. If your friends are on Instagram, Instagram becomes more valuable to you. Leaving Instagram means losing your connection to your friends.

Up Scrolled has 2.5 million users. Instagram has 2 billion. TikTok has 1.5 billion+. Even if every single one of Up Scrolled's users is actively engaged, the platform is small relative to the incumbents.

For the average user, the switch decision looks like:

"Up Scrolled seems cool, but all my friends are on Instagram and TikTok. I'll try it, but I won't leave the big platforms. I'll just use Up Scrolled occasionally." And "occasionally" doesn't drive retention or engagement metrics.

For this to change, Up Scrolled needs either:

1. Critical mass: Enough users that people start leaving Instagram/TikTok primarily for Up Scrolled (requires 200M+ users realistically)
2. Demographic takeover: Complete dominance within one age group or demographic (young Gen Z, creatives, etc.)
3. Killer feature: Something Up Scrolled does that Instagram/TikTok can't or won't replicate
4. Instagram/TikTok collapse: The incumbents fail or become drastically less appealing

Up Scrolled might achieve #2 or #3. It's unlikely to achieve #1 or #4 in the near term.

This is actually what happened to Snapchat: it became dominant with young Gen Z even as Instagram was dominant overall. It survived not by displacing Instagram, but by owning a demographic. Up Scrolled might follow a similar path.

Predictions: What Happens Next

Based on the trajectory and the competitive landscape, here's what probably happens:

3-6 months from now (May-August 2026): Up Scrolled's growth continues but at a slower rate. The TikTok spike wears off. Some of the 2.5 million users churn back to established platforms. User retention becomes the primary metric—is it 40%? 60%? 20%? This determines everything.

The company announces either a Series A funding round or continues bootstrapped. If it's Series A, expect messaging about "solving social media" and growth targets. If bootstrapped, expect slower product development.

6-12 months: Up Scrolled has either stabilized around 3-5 million users and is focused on retention and monetization, or it's declined to <2 million users as the TikTok crisis fades. The company's strategy becomes clear: subscriber-based revenue model, ad-based model, or hybrid.

Content moderation policies become public. The company makes its first controversial removal decision, which tells us whether they're actually different from Instagram/TikTok.

12-24 months: Up Scrolled is either a sustainable alternative (like Bluesky) with millions of engaged users and a clear business model, or it's a declining platform facing the question of whether to pivot, get acquired, or shut down.

Investor interest (mentioned by Hijazi) converts into funding or doesn't. If founders are still cashing paychecks from revenue, that's a sign of sustainability. If they're raising funding, that's a sign they're betting on scale before profitability.

Key metrics to watch:

• Monthly active users (is 2.5M sustained or declining?)
• Retention rates (what % of new signups are still active 30/60/90 days later?)
• Creator adoption (are significant creators building on Up Scrolled?)
• Monetization (how much revenue per user?)
• Investor funding (is capital flowing in or drying up?)

What Up Scrolled Reveals About Social Media's Future

Regardless of whether Up Scrolled specifically survives, its existence and growth tell us something important about social media's direction.

Finding 1: Trust matters more than features Up Scrolled doesn't have more features than Instagram. It doesn't have a better algorithm (it doesn't have an algorithm). It doesn't have more users. What it has is the perception that it won't exploit you. That's enough to create explosive growth during a trust crisis.

Finding 2: Algorithmic manipulation is a genuine problem Instagram, TikTok, and X all use algorithms to control what users see. This is necessary for personalization at scale, but it's also used to manipulate behavior and suppress viewpoints. The existence of demand for "no-algorithm" platforms proves this is a real problem people actually care about, not just a niche concern.

Finding 3: The next dominant platform will be built differently Whether it's Up Scrolled, Bluesky, or something else entirely, the next successful social platform won't look like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. It will probably:

• Offer user choice about how the feed works
• Provide transparency about decisions
• Have clear, fair moderation policies
• Not rely on exploitative engagement tactics
• Have sustainable monetization (probably user-paid)

Finding 4: But changing is hard Network effects are real. Switching costs are real. Even with 2.5 million users, Up Scrolled is still tiny compared to the incumbents. This suggests that disruption in social media won't come from a better product—it'll come from something more fundamental. Either the incumbents fail catastrophically, or regulations force them to change.

Key Takeaways

Let's zoom out.

Up Scrolled grew from 150,000 to 2.5 million users in approximately 30 days because:

1. TikTok's ownership uncertainty created a trust vacuum
2. The platform positioned itself clearly as anti-exploitation
3. It launched at the exact moment when users most wanted alternatives
4. It's visually appealing and easy to use

But explosive growth and sustainable growth are different things. Up Scrolled faces real challenges:

• Monetization without compromising its principles
• Retention as the TikTok crisis fades
• Competing with incumbents that have 1000x more users
• Scaling moderation fairly across global regions
• Building a creator ecosystem
• Maintaining investor growth expectations while staying true to stated values

The most likely outcome is that Up Scrolled becomes a meaningful alternative used by millions of people, but never displaces Instagram or TikTok. Similar to how Snapchat became huge with young Gen Z but never beat Facebook/Instagram overall. It carves out a niche.

But the existence of Up Scrolled, combined with Bluesky's sustained growth and the broader pattern of users seeking alternatives, suggests the era of one dominant social platform is ending. The future probably looks like a multi-platform ecosystem where users have choices, where no single company has monopoly control, and where user trust becomes a primary competitive advantage.

Whether Up Scrolled specifically achieves this is an open question. But the direction is clear.

FAQ

What is Up Scrolled exactly?

Up Scrolled is a social networking platform launched in mid-2025 that combines features of Instagram and X. The platform distinguishes itself by rejecting algorithmic suppression, shadowbanning, and selective censorship, instead offering transparent moderation and user control over feed presentation. It positions itself as an ethical alternative to mainstream social networks that exploit user data and engagement.

How did Up Scrolled grow so fast?

Up Scrolled experienced explosive growth—from 150,000 to 2.5 million users in about 30 days—primarily due to timing. When ByteDance's TikTok underwent ownership restructuring in the U.S. in January 2026, involving Silver Lake and Oracle, millions of users sought alternatives due to trust concerns. Up Scrolled's clear anti-censorship positioning resonated with users seeking a platform they could trust, and the timing coincided perfectly with maximum user anxiety about TikTok's future.

What does Up Scrolled promise that Instagram and TikTok don't?

Up Scrolled promises transparency and user autonomy instead of algorithmic control. The platform commits to no shadowbanning (hidden suppression of content), no selective censorship based on political viewpoint, and no algorithmic amplification designed to manipulate behavior. Instead, Up Scrolled offers chronological or user-controlled feeds and explicit moderation with transparent community guidelines. This contrasts directly with Instagram and TikTok, which use proprietary algorithms to determine what content each user sees and rely on opaque shadowbanning for enforcement.

Does Up Scrolled have a business model?

Up Scrolled hasn't publicly announced its monetization strategy, though founder Issam Hijazi confirmed the platform has been "getting investor interest." The company likely faces pressure to adopt either subscription-based revenue (similar to Bluesky's premium tier), traditional advertising, or a hybrid model. The challenge is maintaining the anti-exploitation positioning while generating sufficient revenue to satisfy investors and sustain the platform long-term.

Will Up Scrolled replace Instagram or TikTok?

It's highly unlikely that Up Scrolled will completely displace Instagram or TikTok in the near term. Network effects are powerful—users stay where their friends and favorite creators are. However, Up Scrolled could become a significant alternative for specific demographics (like those prioritizing privacy and transparency) or use cases. History suggests it may follow a path similar to Snapchat, which dominated with young Gen Z while Instagram remained the mainstream platform overall.

What are the biggest challenges Up Scrolled faces?

Up Scrolled's primary challenges include: (1) retention—whether the 2.5M users stay as the TikTok crisis fades; (2) creator adoption—convincing content creators to invest in Up Scrolled when they already have audiences on Instagram and TikTok; (3) moderation at scale—fairly enforcing community guidelines across global regions with different legal requirements; (4) monetization without compromising ethics; and (5) competing with platforms that have 1000x more users and vastly larger budgets for product development and infrastructure.

Is Up Scrolled actually censorship-free?

No. Founder Hijazi acknowledged that Up Scrolled will implement community guidelines to comply with regional laws and address issues like pornography and harassment already present on the platform. The distinction Up Scrolled makes is that enforcement will be transparent (users will know why content was removed) rather than secret (like shadowbanning). The platform won't rely on algorithmic suppression, but it will have human-enforced rules. This means Up Scrolled is "less censored" than Instagram, not "uncensored."

What does Up Scrolled's success tell us about social media?

Up Scrolled's explosive growth reveals that users genuinely care about trust and transparency in social platforms, and that algorithmic manipulation is a real problem people want to escape. It also demonstrates that network effects, while powerful, can be overcome during trust crises. Finally, Up Scrolled's emergence suggests the future of social media will involve multiple competing platforms rather than single-platform dominance, with user choice and transparency becoming primary competitive advantages.

How does Up Scrolled compare to Bluesky?

Both platforms position themselves as ethical alternatives to mainstream social networks, but they differ significantly. Bluesky is text-focused (like X/Twitter) and based on an open protocol that emphasizes decentralization, while Up Scrolled is visually focused (like Instagram) and centrally operated. Bluesky has achieved ~15 million users through sustained growth over 2+ years, while Up Scrolled reached 2.5M in 30 days through a crisis-driven spike. Bluesky has proven retention; Up Scrolled's retention is unproven. Both face the challenge of competing with much larger incumbents despite superior positioning.

What should I know before joining Up Scrolled?

Before signing up, understand that Up Scrolled is still early-stage with an unproven track record. While the positioning is appealing, the platform lacks the feature maturity, creator ecosystem, and user base of established networks. Consider whether you're joining because you believe in the principles (transparency, anti-censorship) or because the user experience is better. Also recognize that all new platforms eventually face difficult moderation decisions that reveal their true values. Wait for Up Scrolled's first major controversial decision before fully committing—it will tell you whether the company actually operates differently than Instagram and TikTok.

Conclusion: The Moment When Social Media Fractured

January 2026 was a turning point.

When TikTok switched ownership structures, it didn't just change one app. It revealed something about the fragility of social media monopolies. We've spent a decade assuming that Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok were inevitable. That their network effects were insurmountable. That users would never actually leave despite their frustrations.

Then one crisis happened, and suddenly 2.5 million people tried something new. Not because Up Scrolled was revolutionary technologically. Not because it had amazing features. But because it offered something the incumbents no longer did: trust.

This matters because it suggests that the dominance of Big Tech social platforms isn't inevitable. It's conditional on users believing that the platforms roughly align with their values. The moment that belief breaks—due to a trust crisis, a regulatory change, a leadership disaster, or just generational shift—the entire structure becomes vulnerable.

Up Scrolled probably won't become the next Facebook. But Up Scrolled's existence changes the conversation. It proves that alternatives are possible. It proves that users will migrate if given a compelling reason. It proves that positioning and principles matter, not just features and scale.

The next few years will show whether Up Scrolled specifically can sustain its growth and build a durable platform. But regardless of Up Scrolled's ultimate outcome, the era of social media monopolies is ending. Users now know they have choices. Founders know that alternatives are possible. Investors know that the social media market is vulnerable to disruption.

What emerges from that disruption—whether it's Up Scrolled, Bluesky, something else entirely, or a fragmented multi-platform ecosystem—will look fundamentally different from what dominated the 2010s.

The moment fractured. What rebuilds will be more distributed, more transparent, and more accountable to users. Not because capitalism suddenly became ethical. But because users now know they have options, and companies that don't respect that will be replaced.

That's what Up Scrolled's explosive growth actually means. Not that it'll win. But that the game changed.

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