TikTok has been officially sold to these companies as of January 22, 2026:
Oracle, whose founder Larry Ellison is one of the largest donors ever to Israel’s IDF
Private equity firm Silver Lake, who has significant investments in Oracle
Abu Dhabi state-owned investment firm MGX, who has also supported Trump’s stablecoin with a $2 billion transaction
Michael Dell (The company Dell has a $18.8 million contract with ICE)
Vastmere Strategic Investments, an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group, founded by Trump ally Jeff Yass
Revolution, owned by Steve Case, founder of AOL
Merritt Way, managed and controlled by San Francisco-based investment firm Dragoneer
Alpha Wave, Via Nova, Virgo Li Inc, NJJ Capital
So – where can we go? I’ve looked at social media alternatives beyond TikTok & Instagram, with overviews and a few I recommend. I did not dig into the Fediverse, or platforms like Discord or Tumblr for this article, but may do so in the future. I will still be posting on Instagram and TikTok as that’s where the majority of people are right now, but I am also on a lot of these newer platforms so will link to my account if I have one.
Tips on How to Shift to New Social Platforms:
Social media is a habit, so to change how you use it, you need to treat it like one. I recommend moving the location of where your TikTok/etc app is on your phone, and move the new app you want to use in its place. This breaks not only the pattern of tapping into the app all the time because it’s not there anymore, but also if you put whatever else you want to use in place you end up opening it a lot more than if it was buried somewhere on your home screen.
Understand that newer apps don’t have the user base that behemoths like TikTok and Instagram do, or massive budgets for engineers. Many of the alternatives I mention below are less than a year old, and are growing and learning. We gotta start somewhere though, so be a little more forgiving of newer options.
Bring friends. For example, if you have a friend you always share videos with on TikTok, see if they want to move with you to a platform like UpScrolled. It’s easier to make the switch when you have others making it with you.
You don’t have to delete TikTok or Instagram right away if you want to make the switch. Give yourself some time to explore other options and find out what works for you.
But before we jump in…
I have received a ton of new subscribers this week, so if you’re new here, welcome!👋 So excited to have you! If you love my work, consider getting a paid subscription or supporting me through Buy Me A Coffee. Cut Off the Spigot is entirely community-funded, I do not accept advertising or sponsorships from companies I review.
Merch Updates: I have ordered all the merch samples and everything should arrive by the end of next week. I did receive the water bottle so far, and it looks incredible! I’m hoping to launch the merch store by mid-February, if not sooner.
Topic Schedule: I had originally planned to do my de-Google series in January, but I want to focus on other alternatives to companies supporting ICE. I have Ring camera, rental car company, internet service provider, & lumber/building supplies alternatives on the list so far. I’m still committed to the de-Google series, it’ll just be a little later!
Upscrolled: Palestinian-founded Instagram-like social media app. UpScrolled has a chronological feed and no shadowbans to ensure you see the accounts you love. You can find a helpful overview via a short 15 min podcast here.
Why is it Cut Off the Spigot recommended? Out of all the alternatives I looked at, UpScrolled is one of the few truly independent platforms separate from Big Tech. The founder is a Palestinian-Australian who cares deeply about supporting the Palestinian community and ensuring information about Palestine is not censored. There is also a decent sized user-base for being less than a year old, and I think there is a huge opportunity for Americans to move onto this platform and make a space for ourselves. From a user perspective, the two feed options make it easy to see the content you want, and it’s quick to get started as its fairly similar to Instagram. You can find my account @CutOffTheSpigot or tap here.
When did it launch? July 2025.
The Details: UpScrolled is owned by the founder, Palestinian-Australian Issam Hijazi, with investor support from Tech for Palestine founders.
Feed Experience: Chronological feed for those you follow, and a Discover tab.
AI Policy: Mandatory labeling for AI-generated content, and UpScrolled has AI-detection tools to help enforce. Users can also report content for being AI-generated or AI slop.
Privacy: UpScrolled’s servers are based in Dublin and operate within the EU’s GDPR framework, one of the highest legal standards for privacy.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: UpScrolled was created in response to Instagram/Meta and TikTok’s shadowbanning of pro-Palestinian content, and moderation is always led by humans. UpScrolled moderates harmful content, not opinions.
Available On: iOS, Android
Communities: Platform for building and organizing community without ads, sponsored posts or suggested posts. Current user base is small, but they are partnering with 50501 Facebook groups to essentially share the same posts & information on Communities.
Why is it Cut Off the Spigot recommended? Their partnership with 50501 enables people to find out information about local organizing events and build community outside of Facebook, while maintaining a similar user experience so the new platform learning curve is pretty flat. There are still a lot of uses for Facebook groups (Buy Nothing groups, local parent groups, local community groups etc), and I think this is a great alternative. Since it is community-based, I recommend trying to get your local group to consider switching over or at least posting their content on both Facebook & Communities. I have a personal account on Communities, you can find me under Alexa Speed (it’s my real name!).
When did it launch? October 2025
The Details: Communities is working towards a multi-stake cooperative once it is out of its initial startup/Beta phase.
Feed Experience: Customizable feed experience. You can view posts in chronological order, most active based on likes/comments, or recent activity based on most recent interactions (reactions or comments on posts).
Privacy: Communities does not share your info with any third-parties like advertises, unless its necessary to Communities’ operations.
AI Policy: AI-generated slop content is banned, and they do not utilize your posts/data to train generative AI.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: Users will only be banned/removed if they consistently violate community standards.
Available On: iOS, Android, Web
None of these platforms had profiles on OpenSecrets or public diversity policies, though generally that’s because they have few employees or are volunteer-led.
Cara: Cara is both a social network and portfolio platform for artists and enthusiasts. If you’re an artist, you can share your work & note you are open to new projects.
When did it launch? January 2023.
The Details: Founded by Jingna Zhang, an art community veteran and supported by volunteers. Cara is funded through donations via Cara Coffee, a funding platform similar to BuyMeACoffee but managed by the Cara team.
Feed Experience: Customizable feed where you can allocate percentages to each category, people you follow, your followers’ network, and Cara site-wide (aka discovery).
Privacy: Cara does not use your posts or data for generative AI training. More info here.
AI Policy: Cara bans generative AI created content.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: The only restriction is on NSFW art, which they can’t support at this time but are working to do so in the future.
Available On: iOS, Android, Web
Foto: Photography-focused platform (no video) for professionals and enthusiasts. Free for all but supported through Pro tier community subscriptions.
When did it launch? February 2025.
The Details: Founded by Michael Howard, Sahil Limbe, and Adam Simms. Foto is funded through community support & paid subscriptions, not venture capital.
Feed Experience: Chronological timeline with a discovery tab.
Privacy: Check their privacy policy here.
AI Policy: There isn’t a clear one listed on their website, but I found this podcast episode where they discuss AI art on Foto from January 2025 if you want to take a listen.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: No political content restrictions or shadowbanning, but you can check their nudity/NSFW policy here.
Available On: iOS, Android, Web
Vero – Subscription-based ad-free social media platform with a chronological feed.
When did it launch? 2015.
The Details: VERO is a majority owned by its co-founders CEO Ayman Hariri, Scott Birnbaum, Motaz Nabulsi, and members of the team.
Feed Experience: Chronological feed from accounts you follow and a Discovery tab. No algorithms.
Privacy: Vero does not track individual user behavior across the platform, sell user data to advertisers, or scrape your post data for generative AI.
AI Policy: I can’t find a specific AI or AI-content policy on their website.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: I couldn’t find information on their website specifically addressing this, but since the feed is chronological there’s less likelihood of posts being shadowbanned/de-proritized.
Available On: iOS, Android, Desktop
Kyndr: Community group based app without ads. Similar to Reddit where you can join groups based on interests.
When did it launch? Started in 2023.
The Details: Founded by Betsy Barton and set up as a non-profit organization.
Feed Experience: Chronological-based feed.
Privacy: They do not share your info with third-parties unless its necessary for operations. Kyndr does use OpenAI API for internal analytics, but according to Open AI’s policy, these API calls are not used to train their models and no personal identifying information is shared.
AI Policy: Kyndr is looking for user feedback on AI-generated content before finalizing their policy.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: Users will only be banned/removed if they consistently violate community standards.
Available On: iOS, Android. US-only.
The Culture Connection: Networking app for Black professionals currently in beta.
The Details: Founded by Grace Shorter and funded through accelerator programs and investors.
Available On: iOS
Monnett: European-based Instagram-like app that gives you control over your feed. Monnett is free to use, but instead of supporting the platform through advertising, they have a premium tier with additional features starting at €2.99/month.
When did it launch? October 2025.
The Details: Founded by Christos Floros, with funding from European investors including senior Microsoft executives.
Feed Experience: Customized feed that you can control through selecting what content types, sources, and topics are in your feed and how they are prioritized. No algorithms.
Privacy: Monnett does track your behavior when on the app or sell your data to advertisers or use it for AI training.
AI Policy: Monnett is anti-AI slop with their policy: no AI-generated posts or imagery welcome and no use of LLMs or generative systems anywhere in the social experience.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: No shadowbans, your followers will see what you post.
Available On: iOS, Android
Bluesky: While Bluesky is generally considered the liberal version of Twitter, the platform is still heavily involved in Big Tech and their investors are generally pro-Israel, pro-crypto or crooks. If you are looking to move away from Instagram or TikTok for censorship and shadowbanning reasons, Bluesky isn’t much better. It does have one of the largest user bases outside of TikTok/Instagram however. I am on Bluesky as CutOfftheSpigot.
The Details: The company is set up as a Public Benefit Corporation and is owned by Jay Graber and the Bluesky team with significant investment from venture capital firms, including Blockchain Capital (invests in crypto “builders”), Alumni Ventures (who had to pay the SEC $700K in penalties and refund $4.7 million to investors), True Ventures (who want to “propel AI’s potential”🙄), SevenX Ventures (invests in crypto ventures), Darkmode’s Amir Shevat (heavily invests in Israeli entrepreneurs), and Kubernetes co-creator Joe Beda. I cannot find a public diversity policy on their website, and they spent $10K on lobbying in 2025.
When did it launch? February 2024.
Feed Experience: Chronological feeds are the default, but you can also create custom feeds or utilize others’ custom feeds.
AI Policy: Bluesky has said they won’t use your posts and content to train generative AI. As far as I can tell they do not currently have a policy on AI-generated content.
Privacy: Can view their privacy policy here.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: Bluesky has censored Turkish accounts at the request of the Turkish authorities in April 2025. A month later in May 2025 Bluesky also faced accusations for shutting down accounts, blocking users from creating new accounts, and heavily limiting features for users after they post content about Gaza or critical to Israel. Bluesky also granted ICE a verified account in January 2026, which quickly became one of the most blocked accounts.
Available On: iOS, Android, Web
I will admit, I can’t explain what AT Protocol is in technical terms. But from my understanding, it’s basically the network that underpins BlueSky, and enables other apps to create their own interface and feeds. It’s like if Instagram let other companies use their data hose of posts/stories/etc, but the companies could put them in a new app/user interface. It would still ultimately be controlled by Instagram, but you would be able to view those posts in a completely different manner.
The limitations of the current AT Protocol system with Bluesky are that you will need a Bluesky account to be able to use any of these platforms, and any of the content moderation on Bluesky (i.e. censoring/limiting pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel content) flows into these platforms as well with minimal workarounds.
Blacksky: Blacksky is a curated feed of BlueSky posts that weeds out anti-Black harassment and misogynoir (being both racist and misogynistic) and is intended to build community. There’s a great WIRED overview here, and here is a recent interview with Fraser on what Blacksky is, how it works, and the importance of community-owned social spaces.
When did it launch? 2023
The Details: Founded by Rudy Fraser. Blacksky is very transparent, you can see their contributors here.
Feed Experience: Custom algorithmic feed designed to foster community for Black users.
AI Policy: I can’t find a specific policy for AI content, but I would hope that their filtering would exclude most AI slop. Blacksky is also not scanning your content for generative AI training.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: Since it’s a curated feed meant to uplift black users and content, the only restrictions/shadowbans would be for BlueSky posts that are filtered out.
Available On: Web-only for now
Skylight Social: Female-founded TikTok-like app with a scrolling video feed built on Bluesky’s AT Protocol. One major caveat is that BlueSky restricts the video size/quality when uploading (as I have encountered on my account) so video quality may not be as good as platforms like TikTok & Instagram. I’m on Skylight Social as CutOffTheSpigot through my Bluesky account.
When did it launch? April 2025.
The Details: Skylight Social was founded by Tori White (CEO) and Reed Harmeyer (CTO). It’s a Public Benefit Corporation with Mark Cuban and Graham & Walker as investors.
Feed Experience: You can use it in a more discovery function like the TikTok feed, or create a custom feed.
AI Policy: I can’t find a specific policy on AI content/AI slop, though they say they prefer human-generated content. You can see their privacy policy here.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: I can’t find anything specific on shadowbans/etc, but since it’s based off of BlueSky’s technology if something is banned/removed on BlueSky it would also be banned on Skylight Social.
Available On: iOS, Android
Flashes: Filters your BlueSky timeline to focus only on photo and video content.
When did it launch? February 2025.
The Details: Founded by Sebastian Vogelsang. I can’t find a ton of information on ownership, but I’m guessing it’s owned by Vogelsang.
Feed Experience: You can switch between a chronological feed and a more discovery-based feed with top posts.
AI Policy: I can’t find a specific policy on AI content/AI slop, but they do not use your content to train generative AI. You can see their privacy policy here.
Content Restrictions/Shadowbanning: I can’t find anything specific on shadowbans/etc, but since it’s based off of BlueSky’s technology if something is banned/removed on BlueSky it would also be banned on Flashes.
Available On: iOS, Android coming eventually.
Northsky Social: Similar to Blacksky but geared towards the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
When did it launch? Has not launched yet.
The Details: Northsky Social operates as a worked-owned non-profit cooperative, where workers both have a stake in the company and participate in decision-making through democratic processes.
Available On: Not available yet, but you can sign up for an invite here.
Hopefully this has given you some options worth trying out and a sense of how some others work!
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