Skylight hits 380,000 users as TikTok alternatives gain traction

Skylight, a short-form, vertical video app, has surpassed over 380,000 users following user concerns regarding TikTok U.S.’s change in ownership last week. The startup experienced a surge in activity over the weekend, adding around 20,000 new users, bringing its monthly active users to around 95,000 this January. This migration was accompanied by unfortunately timed technical glitches on TikTok and a newly updated privacy policy that prompted users to encourage others to delete the app. The policy included permission to track users’ GPS coordinates and track immigration status. According to Skylight co-founder Reed Harmeyer, who provided statistics on Saturday, the platform experienced the following growth metrics:

• Video plays reached 1.4 million the day before, up 3x over the past 24 hours.
• Sign-ups increased more than 150%.
• Returning users grew by over 50%.
• Average videos played rose by over 40%.
• Created posts increased by over 100%.

The mobile app, backed by investor Mark Cuban and co-founded by CEO Tori White and CTO Reed Harmeyer, is built on the AT Protocol—an open source technology for decentralized social networking. This is the same technology that powers Bluesky, a decentralized rival that now has north of 42 million users. Skylight’s integration with the AT Protocol allows it to stream videos directly from Bluesky, and the platform now has over 150,000 videos uploaded directly to its own service.

The startup’s leadership views this decentralized architecture as a structural safeguard for creators and users. “We’ve seen what happens when one person dictates what’s pushed into people’s feeds. Not only does it harm a creator’s connection with their followers, but the entire health of the platform. That’s why we built Skylight Social on open standards. We wanted creator and user power to be guaranteed by the technology. Not an empty promise, but an irrevocable right,” CEO Tori White said.

The user shift comes amid broader geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. These tensions previously fueled concerns that TikTok could be a threat to national security. To comply with a U.S. executive order issued by President Trump, TikTok announced on January 22 the establishment of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, a new entity for its U.S. operations. Under this structure, ByteDance will own less than 20% of the new entity. However, some users have expressed concerns regarding the new ownership, specifically citing anxieties over the American investors’ allegiance to Trump. While Skylight’s recent growth is notable, the startup remains small compared to TikTok, which has 200 million monthly active U.S. users.

Why it matters

Skylight’s growth highlights a broader trend where users are migrating to decentralized platforms when they perceive centralized social media giants as compromised by geopolitical tensions or privacy overreach.