3 August 2026
You asked. We built it. UpScrolled desktop has arrived.
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Issam Hijazi never planned to become a social media founder. For most of his career, he worked in corporate IT, building systems, leading teams, and navigating environments where progress was measured in frameworks and deliverables. It was a stable life, professionally and personally, grounded in routine, responsibility, and steady growth. The idea of walking away from it all was never part of the plan.
That changed in 2024.
Like millions of others, Issam was watching the genocide in Gaza unfold in real time. He followed journalists, activists, and ordinary people sharing what they were witnessing, often at great personal risk. Social media, once heralded as a tool for connection and truth, felt like the only place these stories could live. Yet as the months passed, something disturbing became harder to ignore. While the scale of destruction increased, visibility declined. Accounts were restricted. Posts failed to reach followers. Voices that mattered simply disappeared from feeds.
For Issam, a Palestinian Jordanian-Australian, this was not an abstract frustration or a passing trend. It was deeply personal. Watching his people be erased in their homeland while the digital space narrowed around them created a tension he could no longer sit with. The platforms that promised connection were quietly deciding which truths could travel and which could not.
That was the moment he decided to build something different.
UpScrolled was not born out of a desire to disrupt an industry or chase attention. It was born out of the belief that people deserve a safe, visible space to express themselves without fear of suppression. Issam did not leave corporate life with a pitch deck or investors lined up. He left with a conviction that if existing systems could not be trusted to protect voice, then new ones had to be built.
From the beginning, his vision for UpScrolled was deliberately simple. No hidden algorithms, no shadow-banning, and no manipulation of reach. If someone follows you, they see your posts. Content appears chronologically, not according to what drives the most outrage or advertising revenue. Transparency is not a feature; it is the foundation.
Issam chose to self-fund the platform so that no external pressure could dilute its purpose. Every decision, from design to moderation, has been shaped by the same question: Does this protect expression while keeping people safe? UpScrolled does not tolerate hate speech, propaganda, or bad-faith behaviour, but it also refuses to silence voices quietly or without explanation. It is not a free-for-all; it is a space built on dignity, accountability, and respect.
Today, UpScrolled is home to a growing community of more than 90,000 users. What began as a response to the silencing of Palestinians has become a refuge for many others who feel marginalised by mainstream platforms. Creators who have been shadow-banned, educators whose reach has collapsed, and activists who worry that their work could disappear overnight. People who want to share ideas, art, stories, and truth without constantly second-guessing an invisible system.
Issam is careful to say that UpScrolled is not “just for one cause”. While politics sparked its creation, its future depends on diversity. The platform welcomes creators from all backgrounds and interests, because its success lies not in uniformity, but in community. Whatever you care about, whoever you are, wherever you come from, your voice has a place.
Building a platform like this has not been easy, and Issam does not pretend otherwise. UpScrolled is evolving, improving, and learning in real time. Features expand, feedback shapes direction, and growth is deliberate rather than explosive. But that honesty is part of what attracts creators. There is no illusion of perfection, only a clear commitment to doing better.
For Issam, UpScrolled is not about replacing existing platforms. It is about restoring something that has been lost along the way. The original promise of social media was connection, discovery, and expression. Somewhere along the line, those ideals were traded for control and noise.
UpScrolled is an attempt to reclaim them.
For creators and content makers, the invitation is simple. If you want your followers to actually see your work, if you are tired of wondering why your reach vanished, and if you want to be part of a community that values visibility, safety, and integrity over manipulation, then this platform was built with you in mind.
Issam Hijazi did not set out to change social media. He set out to protect something deeply human. Sometimes, that is how meaningful change begins.
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