UpScrolled sees download surge after TikTok ownership change

In the wake of TikTok’s U.S. ownership change last week, some users are seeking out alternative platforms. One app gaining traction is UpScrolled, which currently ranks 12th overall in Apple’s App Store and second in the social networking category. According to market intelligence provider Appfigures, UpScrolled saw approximately 41,000 downloads between Thursday and Saturday, accounting for nearly one-third of its lifetime installs. Since Thursday, the app has seen an average of about 14,000 daily downloads, bringing its total downloads to 140,000 to date, with 75,000 of those being U.S.-based installs.

This sudden influx represents a 2,850% increase in daily downloads, forcing the platform to scale its infrastructure to handle the demand. In a post on X, the company acknowledged the strain, stating that users had arrived so quickly that its servers tapped out. Founded by Issam Hijazi, the platform is being positioned as a transparent alternative to established social media giants. Hijazi, the founder of UpScrolled, stated, “UpScrolled is the foundation for a digital ecosystem that puts power back into the hands of the people — not the corporations” to highlight the platform’s focus on user control. Part of this appeal includes a promise not to shadowban users—a social media moderation practice of limiting a user’s visibility without notifying them—and to give posts a fair chance to be seen.

The user migration follows the finalization of a deal on Thursday to form a majority American-owned joint venture for TikTok to keep the app operating in the U.S. Under the terms of the agreement, TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance retains less than 20% ownership of the new entity. The remaining stakes are distributed among three managing investors:

• Oracle holds a 15% stake.
• Silver Lake holds a 15% stake.
• MGX holds a 15% stake.

Following the ownership change, users accused TikTok of potentially censoring certain political content. This criticism included concerns raised by Senator Chris Murphy and singer Billie Eilish that TikTok was suppressing or limiting posts criticizing ICE. Additionally, some users reported being unable to search for information about ongoing protests in Minneapolis following the killing of Alex Pretti by border patrol agents. While TikTok attributed these functionality issues to an ongoing data center outage, users have increasingly sought alternatives. Beyond UpScrolled, other platforms are also gaining traction; Skylight, an open-source alternative, has topped over 380,000 sign-ups.

Why it matters

The migration to platforms like UpScrolled and Skylight highlights a growing user demand for transparency and political neutrality in social media, triggered by the restructuring of TikTok’s U.S. operations.