12 August 2026
Irish belongs everywhere. Now it’s on UpScrolled
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Is social media ready for a shake-up? UpScrolled founder and CEO Issam Hijazi is betting on it. Today at Web Summit Vancouver, Issam joins Guardian tech reporter Dara Kerr for a session titled "UpScrolled vs. the feed giants" to ask whether the social media experience users were originally promised is still worth fighting for.
Users want something different. Creators want something different. Communities are built on these platforms. Careers run through them, and audiences connect there. Entire businesses now exist inside apps that constantly evolve behind the scenes, often with very little visibility into how decisions are actually made, or why certain content gets pushed when other content disappears into the void.
That growing tension between community and control is expected to sit at the heart of today’s discussion. Users are becoming increasingly aware of how feeds are shaped, with creators openly discussing struggles around burnout and visibility, and more people questioning whether endless engagement-driven content is actually making online spaces better.
Rather than approaching social media through outrage or anti-tech panic, Issam’s conversation will focus on a much simpler question: what happens when platforms stop trying to constantly steer attention and instead give users more control and choice over what they actually see online?
For UpScrolled, that’s not a question, it’s the whole point. Built around chronological feeds and community-led interaction, the platform has positioned itself as part of a growing movement of creators and users looking for a different online experience. An experience that feels more open, more transparent, and less engineered around addictive engagement loops.
The session comes at a moment of real momentum. This year’s web summit promises an impressive line-up of speakers including Gabor Maté, Naomi Klein and Hasan Piker who will all be exploring wider themes connected to tech, culture, human behaviour, and the future of digital communities.
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UpScrolled vs. the feed giants takes place today at Web Summit Vancouver, Centre Stage at 10.00 am - 10.25 am, Pacific Time.
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