29 September 2026
Adding UpScrolled to Your Social Mix? Here’s Your Checklist
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When Issam Hijazi joined The Kim Iverson Show, the conversation went straight to one of the hardest questions facing any alternative social media platform: how do you build for free expression, when governments, app stores, infrastructure providers, and bad actors have the power to interfere?
For Hijazi, the answer starts with consistency.
“We don’t censor opinions,” he told Iverson. “We don’t favour a group over the other. We apply our community guidelines equally across everyone.”
That principle extends to the way UpScrolled handles the feed itself. Rather than using an algorithm to decide what holds your attention, the default feed is chronological. You see the people you chose to follow, in the order they posted.
Hijazi says that distinction matters because the problem isn’t simply what content gets removed. It’s also what platforms choose to amplify.
“We want you to actually go outside and touch the grass and do normal human being things,” he said, describing UpScrolled’s refusal to build the same engagement loops designed to keep people scrolling indefinitely.
The interview also gets into the less visible challenges of building an independent social network. Hijazi discusses bot attacks, content moderation, the pressure smaller platforms can face from technology gatekeepers, and the reality that no social network operates completely independently while relying on app stores and third-party infrastructure.
For Hijazi, that makes growth part of the strategy.
“We need to play the long game until we are big enough in order to have a say and be able to resist.”
Iverson also asks whether UpScrolled risks becoming a platform for only one political or ideological camp. Hijazi’s answer is absolute: no.
“If you are right-wing, if you are left-wing, if you want to talk about whatever topic, come in,” he said. “We will not amplify your content. But if your crowd likes you, they will follow you, they will see it.”
It’s a conversation about censorship, but also about something broader: who gets to decide what people see online, and whether social media can work without making that decision for them.
Issan Hijazi joined Kim Iverson on The Kim Iverson Show to discuss censorship, content moderation, algorithmic amplification and the challenges of building an independent social platform.
Watch the full interview here.
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About UpScrolled
UpScrolled puts people back in control of their social media experience. Founded by Issam Hijazi, a Palestinian-Jordanian-Australian technologist, it was built on a simple principle: social media should serve people, not exploit them. No shadowbanning. No data sales. Share freely, connect safely, trust your feed. Fairness and freedom in a digital landscape that has lost its way.
Media contact
Leila Dastyar | PR Director | leila@dna.online
