TikTok users flee to UpScrolled, censorship-free Palestinian-owned app
The app, which is available on Android and iOS, currently ranks second in the social networking category on Apple's App Store, after a significant number of downloads in recent days.
An Australian-Palestinian founded app, UpScrolled, has surged in downloads, rising into the top ten charts of the App Store following ongoing concerns over censorship on TikTok. and the announcement of TikTok’s partial ownership by a Zionist billionaire.
The app, which is available on Android and iOS, currently ranks second in the social networking category on Apple's App Store, after a significant number of downloads in recent days.
Users have flocked to the app after getting fed up of censorship in other apps, especially about content relating to Palestine.
The Australian-run upstart application has appeared from nowhere in recent months bouyed by the recent buyout of TikTok in the US by US-based Zionist billionaire Larry Ellison’s Oracle Group, a vocal ally of US President Donald Trump.
The shift to TikTok’s US ownership structure was finalised on January 22 through a $14 billion deal, where American operations were placed under a new entity, where U.S. investors — including Oracle — holding a controlling stake.
The UpScrolled app has also grown in popular partly due to its Palestinian-Jordanian-Australian owner Issam Hijazi, who is also a vocal critic of the Israeli genocidal campaign in Gaza.
It markets itself as offering fewer content restrictions and a simplified feed that surfaces posts based on direct user interaction rather than automated recommendation systems."We don’t push agendas—political, commercial, or otherwise. Our rules are clear and applied evenly. Our ranking is explainable, our decisions accountable, and influence comes with responsibility," the app writes on its website.
App store data shows the platform reached second place among free downloads in the UK over the past week, and third in the US and Canada. The platform's rise follows widespread complaints from creators about reduced visibility and unexplained content removals.
Many users cite frustration with what they describe as "shadowbanning", a practice TikTok has not confirmed but which creators frequently reference when discussing declining reach. TikTok has previously stated that its systems limit material that breaches community guidelines or poses safety risks.
Market intelligence firm Appfigures recorded a 2,850% jump in daily downloads.
Issam Hijaz, founder of Unscrolled
Hijazi said he built Upscrolled last year to combat what he calls "systematic shadowbanning of pro-Palestine content" on mainstream platforms. “UpScrolled is the foundation for a digital ecosystem that puts power back into the hands of the people — not the corporations,” Hijazi said. “We recognise Palestine since 1948 and before that, right?” he said in a LinkedIn post on January 24.
The platform emphasizes authentic expression with the tagline "Your voice, amplified!" It enables users to share photos, post short- or long-form videos with advanced editing tools, compose text updates, engage in real-time chats, view daily stories, follow accounts, and explore regional trending topics.
Hijazi created the platform in response to censorship of Palestinian voices online, which has become a recurring issue not only on TikTok, but also on Meta.
“They [Netanyahu, Israel, and Zionists] understand the real danger that TikTok has shown to the world, of showing the real face of Israel to the world, and now they want to control that, just like they control CNN, Fox News, etc,” Hijazi said on a panel last year.
“They understand this [TikTok] is the new tool to control the brains of the young generation everywhere… at some point we won’t be able to speak out about anything that’s pro-Palestinian.”
Tragically, Hijazi lost 60 members of his family during the genocide in Gaza, and says he was deeply affected and inspired to contribute something back to the Palestinian cause in his capacity.
The mass flock to UpScrolled and its rise in popularity represents the desire for social media users to be able to speak freely about not only the Palestine cause, but many other social issues online.
You can follow Sahifa Media on UpScrolled here: https://share.upscrolled.com/en/user/278791b7-6885-4f5a-9e9f-25d7ff15d1d7/