A newer social video app called UpScrolled has unexpectedly surged to the top of the U.S. App Store’s free app rankings. UpScrolled briefly hit the #1 spot in the U.S., driven by increased downloads and growing interest among people looking for an alternative to TikTok. The climb is notable because UpScrolled is still early in its lifecycle. The app is not on most creators’ radars until late January, after TikTok allegedly censors content on U.S. President Trump’s policies on immigration.
TikTok’s alleged censorship of content
TikTok recently spun off its U.S. operations into a new company to comply with a 2024 federal law that requires the app to separate from its Chinese parent, ByteDance. The new U.S. entity is backed by Oracle, investment firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi based MGX. Since that change, creators say their posts are not showing up the way they used to. Creators who talk about politics, immigration or criticism of former President Donald Trump say their videos are getting very low views, sometimes close to zero. Senator Chris Murphy called it a threat to democracy, while Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell said their content appeared to reach fewer people than usual after posting anti-ICE content.
TikTok responded and said the issue is technical and that a power outage at a U.S. data center caused delays in publishing and feed distribution. TikTok said this made posts take longer to appear and affected visibility for some users.
What makes UpScrolled different
There is when UpScrolled gained many downloads over the past few weeks. At its core, UpScrolled pitches itself as a simpler, “open platform” that puts user posts in a more chronological order and promises less intervention in what appears in feeds.
“I found this gap in the market, with a lot of people asking why there is no alternative to the Big Tech platforms for their content, which was getting censored. So I thought, why don’t we build our own? I just rolled up my sleeves, and built it,” CEO Issam Hijazi said.
The app has surpassed 2.5 million users. The number continues to rise as more creators are making the shift to the platform.
Featured image asset courtesy: UpScrolled