Palestinian Journalist Bisan Owda Joins UpScrolled After TikTok Bans Her
The United States administration has banned several Palestinian journalists, activist and influencers from the social media platform TikTok after finalising the acquisition deal on January 22, 2026. The Palestinian journalist and filmmaker Bisan Owda has also been banned just five days after the US acquisition of TikTok.
Bisan Owda is best known for documenting life and the war in the Gaza Strip through videos and livestreams, sharing firsthand accounts of displacements, bombings, and survival under siege.
The Emmy-Award winning Palestinian journalist reportedly had 1.4 million followers on her TikTok account. Owda had announced the ban in a video shared on Instagram and X, in which she urges followers to follow her new account on UpScrolled.
The UpScrolled app is launched by Palestinian Jordanian Australian developer Issam Hijazi, who lost more than 60 of his relatives in the Gaza genocide. The app has seen remarkable success since its launch, and ranked ninth among free apps on Apple’s App Store, one place ahead of TikTok, and second in the social networking category as of Monday afternoon.
The ban follows TikTok’s restructuring, including comments from new CEO Adam Presser classifying ‘Zionist’ as hate speech and Israeli PM Netanyahu’s prior endorsement of the platform’s acquisition for social media influence.
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