Issam Hijazi, Founder of UpScrolled

Issam Hijazi, founder of the app UpScrolled, has built a platform that attracts users banned or frustrated by mainstream sites and allows antisemitism to spread largely unchecked. Hijazi himself has echoed antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and “Zionist” control, while the app hosts Holocaust denial and the demonization of Jews with little to no moderation. In refusing to meaningfully curb this content, UpScrolled has become a space where antisemitism is not just tolerated, but supported and amplified.

At the recent Web Summit in Qatar, Issam Hijazi framed his frustrations with social media as a claim that “behind the scene there are certain people who train this algorithm to flag things that doesn’t really go well with their propagandas or agendas,” accusing big tech of having “enabled a genocide” and adding, “we all know where that is. Gaza for example.” He escalated by singling out a Jewish tech figure – “Larry Ellison… one of the biggest donators for the Friends of IDF, I mean that tells you a lot” – before asserting that “they’ve been controlling the media… they want to control the narrative again” and concluding that his app is different because, “we don’t really have to rely on Zionist money.” These remarks rely on insinuation and collective blame, invoking classic antisemitic tropes of Jews as shadowy actors who secretly control media, data, and finance “behind the scenes.”

Hijazi’s recent statements fit into a broader pattern of antisemitic and inflammatory rhetoric. Back in 2021, his public posts relied on dehumanizing analogies that cast Jews as singular oppressors while dismissing complexity or accountability. These posts include:

• Posting a sign reading “Blaming Hamas for firing rockets is like blaming a woman for punching her rapist,” erasing Hamas’ violence and dehumanizing the Jewish people.
• Sharing imagery contrasting hurt Gazans with a crying boy marked by a Jewish star, collapsing Jewish identity with collective blame.
• Comparing a drawing of an IDF soldier kneeling on a person in a keffiyeh with a U.S. police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, invoking false equivalence that singles out the Jewish state.

Users who download UpScrolled report immediately encountering antisemitic content, conspiracy theories, and the glorification of violence. While UpScrolled claims to uphold their own community guidelines and remove extreme accounts, the platform was created as a refuge for those censored on mainstream apps – effectively turning it into a free-for-all of harmful language and hateful ideas. Combined with its founder Issam Hijazi’s own pattern of antisemitic rhetoric, UpScrolled is a breeding ground for extremism and a real danger to Jewish communities.

StopAntisemitism urges everyone to avoid UpScrolled entirely – do not give a platform to antisemitism disguised as “free speech.”