Short-form video platform UpScrolled has climbed the app charts in global app stores amid user dissatisfaction with TikTok's moderation practices and recent algorithm changes. 

The Australian-run upstart application has appeared from nowhere in recent months bouyed by the recent buyout of TikTok in the US by Larry Ellison's Oracle Group and a consortium of other investors after US President Donald Trump forced its Chinese former owner ByteDance, to relinquish control over fears it was being used against US interests, including accusations of spying.

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 government in the West Bank and Gaza, according to previous interviews with him.   

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 estimates around 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% jump in daily downloads. Reports also say the app has reached about 140,000 total downloads so far, with around 75,000 in the United States.

Upscrolled markets itself as a transparent alternative to mainstream social media, promising no shadowbans, chronological feed options, and “human‑led” moderation, which is attracting creators who worry about algorithmic suppression.

Usage‑analytics data from  Similarweb still shows modest rankings in many markets with several European markets not showing the same kind of popularity currently.

Hijazi said he built Upscrolled last year to combat what he calls "systematic shadowbanning of pro-Palestine content" on mainstream platforms. Yahoo Tech reported on January 26.

“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.