This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Its website says the platform will remain “impartial” to political agendas, won’t shadowban users or content, and will “uphold social responsibility.”
I don't feel, in this day and age, like you can be politically impartial (i.e. allow fascists to use your platform to spread propaganda) while simultaneously upholding social responsibility (i.e. not allow fascists to use your platform to spread propaganda).
Yeah, I gave it a shot. I opened the app, and immediately scrolled past a “Jews are secretly ruling the world” conspiracy theory post from a user named something like @ItsAlwaysTheJews… Okay, maybe a fluke. Not a great first impression, but let’s see what else the app has to offer. Then a few posts later there was a “Hitler was right about the Jews” post.
So yeah, it has definitely fallen prey to the Nazi Bar problem.
You can be arguably impartial. Youre not banning them for being Nazis you're banning them for all the stuff Nazis do like the racism. I would also argue you shouldn't be politically impartial and just ban Nazis because Nazis should not feel welcomed.
Isn't this almost exactly what Elon said?
Why would anyone use TikTok or any clone like that to begin with? Do they want their brain to rot?
Anything to get that dopamine drip from the Black Rectangle
You say on another dopamine drop website
Oh i know
I'm more blaming the system than the user. The system is designed to be as addicting as possible. Literally a century of addiction research into drugs and gambling, all used to squeeze every drop of engagement from the user
To a point. At least we’re reading and using our brains more on these text-based sites!
Best app yet, but eventually that app is gonna get bought out just like TikTok and eventually it will get censored.
don't think the Palestinian owner will be keen on selling his social media to those who killed his family
From Wikipedia: “
UpScrolled was launched in June 2025 by Recursive Methods Pty Ltd.[2][3] It was founded by Issam Hijazi, a Palestinian-Australian app developer who previously worked for IBM and Oracle.[3][4] UpScrolled is backed by the Tech for Palestine incubator.
So much for being impartial.
This doesn't necessarily mean they're not being impartial.
If a side's position is the truth, they're going to support impartiality, because they want the truth to be spread, which supports their side.
TikTok is probably about to start moderating heavily in favour of a pro-Israel/anti-Palestine bias, just like other Western social media platforms. It's possible that all a startup would have to do is not do this to secure funding from Palestinian investors.
My only question is whether they'll allow progressive types on their platform long-term.
I feel like every platform outside of the Fediverse is like this nowadays.
How many quick short videos can one consume before they become tired of them? What is the bizarre appeal to that crap instead of actually doing something?
Yes I am typing here on Lemmy, you could make an argument, but damn you see ten short videos you have seen them all.
For me it's news snippets, recipe ideas, 3d print ideas, and short form comedy. I look at it maybe 15min daily. Sometimes days without. My wife probably does 2hrs a day (stay home mother, homeschool teacher, honored caregiver). For her it's the entertainment that can be quickly put down, little investment involved.
I can't imagine. I can get all of that elsewhere, video is such a slow delivery....
There is something just wrong with quick cuts and fast in your face stuff. I swear it's a simple dumbing down plus dopamine injection. It can't be good for you.
I never use Tick Tock but when I saw this headline I decided to sign up for this. All I saw was a bunch of it Arabic writing and Arabic posts. It might be popular but it's not popular in North America. Deleted immediately.
Half the marketing seems to be "Did you know the founder is a Palestinian?"
Yeah, cool, hope his background helps bring some light on the atrocities being done 5o his kin. But when it comes to the app, he could be the first child to be born in Antarctica for all I care. Is the product any use?
Literally never heard of the website until today, this article is wildly overexaggerating
This advertisement is exaggerating, I would say.
I mean, it’s charted #1 on social media on the app stores. It’s an explosive rise in popularity, but that’s not unheard of. If anything, I suspect that the popularity is manufactured. It’s likely some company running an astroturf campaign to capitalize on the fact that people are tired of TikTok’s censorship BS.
Or people are just tired of zionist propaganda and want to support a palestinian made app
My big concern right now is actually the fact that the “no censorship” part is already being weaponized by Nazis. I suspect it will quickly fall prey to the Nazi Bar Problem. I gave the app a fair shot. Opened it up, and the very first post was a “the Jews are secretly running the world” post from an account named something like @ItsAlwaysTheJews. It had a caricature of a Jew (big nose, long sideburns, and yarmulka) reaching out of a TV to steal a watcher’s brain.
Okay, not a great first impression, but that’s inevitable on a free speech app. Let’s keep scrolling. Three or four more posts down, and I was met with a “Hitler was right about the jews” post. Yikes. The fact that those were up front and center (on the default “Ranked” sort) for my brand new account was… Not a great sign.
Time will tell. I do hope it succeeds, because TikTok is clearly an awful choice. But it needs to succeed for the right reasons, and not just become a Nazi cesspit.
Edit: I just opened the app again after posting this comment, and the second post on my feed was a white pride “they’re trying to replace us/white genocide” (common white power talking point to recruit new members) post:
Edit 2: Looking at the account’s follower list, it looks like users are largely using the Palestinian genocide to justify Nazi imagery. Equating Israel’s actions with Jews in general. There are a few straight up Hitler glorification accounts on the follower list, which have “the Jews are genociding Palestine” types of posts right alongside 1488 posts, swastikas, and Nazi salutes. Here is a quick screenshot of some of the followers:
And here is a screenshot of how those followers are using the Palestinian genocide to justify the holocaust:
The upper post is a bunch of dead Palestinian kids and babies lined up in a row. The lower post is obvious. Both (re)posted by the same @HitlerTheHero account.
Holy crap that's even worse than I thought. I tried making an account just to check it out myself even though I'm not at all interested in the service itself, but their email verification emails just never come through even though I tried several times (I'm using Proton, and no they didn't end up in spam). Seems like I'm much better off, never having to come into contact with… that.
So this isn't even a "from the frying pan into a slightly cooler frying pan" situation, but more like "from the frying pan into the open core of a nuclear reactor". I wouldn't be surprised if this even further radicalises Americans
the “no censorship” part is already being weaponized by Nazis.
Yeah, this is the inevitable result with any app that tries the no censorship schtick. It happens every single time, obviously this time won't be any different.
Jesus fucking Christ.
The fuck is UpScrolled? I thought the consensus was to use RedNote?
There was a chart posted here yesterday where they're saying loop.Video I don't think there's any agreement on anything.
I remember awhile back that the RedNote community rejected the Western newcomers because they were obnoxious. Oh, and the Chinese user base is not very fond of LGBT people or culture.
I'm still on Rednote, I mostly see content from users in the USA, UK, Australia, Guandong and Bejing. They are all so nice, they're just like us. Even the mean comments are funny. Also plenty of lesbians there lmfao.
Of course China has their own extreme nationals, but those comments get deleted just as the MAGA ones do.
MAGAs burn up there like vampires splashed with Holy Water, so it's currently my favorite short form video platform.
