The founder of UpScrolled says the social network has surpassed 2.5 million users

The social network UpScrolled, which gained popularity after TikTok changed hands in the United States in January, has exceeded 2.5 million users, company founder Issam Hegazy said during the Qatar Web Summit.

“We launched about six months ago, and we’ve grown to about 150,000 as of early January. As of the last few days, we’ve reached over a million users globally. Now, as of today, we’ve surpassed two and a half million users globally,” Hegazy said.

UpScrolled is a combination of Instagram and X, and claims to include all voices. The company says it allows all types of content and doesn’t ban or censor people.

During his speech, Hegazy criticized big tech companies for being unethical and selling user data for profit, and accused social media networks of suppressing pro-Palestinian content and choosing to selectively censor users.

“They don’t care about selling your data to someone else if it means profit to them. They don’t care about your mental health, as they will design something just to keep you addicted to using that platform as long as it’s profitable for them,” he said.

Users on other platforms have complained that UpScrolled hosts too much pornography and nudity. Hegazy noted that while the company will not rely on amplification algorithms to promote or suppress certain viewpoints, it will have community guidelines in place to comply with laws in different regions. He added that the company is assembling a team of experts to enhance its community guidelines and is also taking user feedback into account.

The company has not announced any public funding, but Hegazy said the social network is receiving interest from investors.

In January, TikTok switched to a new ownership structure in the US with a consortium made up of investors such as Silver Lake and Oracle taking a majority stake in the company, while ByteDance retained 20% ownership. This change led many users to explore other social media networks. Aside from UpScrolled, AT protocol-based Skylight also garnered attention, crossing 380,000 users in the days following the completion of the TikTok deal.

While these social networks may have benefited from a short-term boost following TikTok’s regulatory changes, they will have to build features and community to retain users. They will also have to form moderation policies and make content decisions that may be unpopular with their user base, as Bluesky has discovered over the past few years.