Issam Hijazi: The Entrepreneur Reinventing Social Media with Upscrolled

Issam Hijazi was born in Jordan to Palestinian parents. Tragically, he lost 60 family members in the Gaza conflict. His family originally came from other parts of Palestine and had fled to Gaza to escape violence. Some managed to escape to Egypt, but the rest were killed.

Determined to respond in his own way, Issam turned to technology. He learned coding as a child and built a career in tech, working for major companies like IBM and Oracle. Frustrated by the censorship of Palestinian voices online, he launched Upscrolled, a social media platform based in Sydney. He believed Australia’s democratic laws would protect the platform from political pressure and allow fair content moderation, without shadow-banning or a pro-Israel bias. Since its launch in June 2025, Upscrolled has grown quickly, especially as other platforms restrict voices discussing Gaza.

Issam understands running a social platform isn’t easy. When asked about government restrictions, he didn’t promise a specific response but mentioned moving the platform abroad, with Ireland as an example. While Upscrolled hasn’t received venture capital yet, it has angel investors and some of his personal funds. He also emphasizes that Upscrolled isn’t a free-for-all—illegal content won’t be allowed, and hate speech may be treated more strictly than on platforms like X (formerly Twitter). One key difference: no shadow-banning. Users will always know if their content is removed.

When we spoke via Zoom while he was in Jordan, the platform had 100,000 users. Growth has since skyrocketed, with the app reaching number 2 on the US App Store. As of time writing this the UpScrolled app reached over 1.2 million install on Play Store and App Store.

As a fellow news-tech entrepreneur, I’m impressed—and a bit envious—of Issam’s achievement. From Stone Transparency to the Upscrolled team: best of luck and keep growing!