According to TechCrunch, the TikTok alternative Skylight has soared to over 380,000 users following a surge in signups over the weekend of January 27-28. The app, built on the open-source AT Protocol that also powers Bluesky, saw signups increase more than 150% and video plays jump 3x in a 24-hour period. This growth spike was directly triggered by the finalization of TikTok’s U.S. ownership deal on January 22, which created a new entity called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC where ByteDance will own less than 20%. Co-founded by CEO Tori White and CTO Reed Harmeyer, Skylight offers a familiar short-form video experience with profiles, comments, and a built-in editor, but its key differentiator is its decentralized, open-standard foundation. The app now hosts over 150,000 native videos and can also stream content from the broader Bluesky network.
The open protocol advantage
Here’s the thing that makes Skylight interesting: it’s not trying to build another walled garden. By building on the AT Protocol, it’s essentially plugging into a potential future where social media is more like email—interoperable and user-controlled. You can find and follow people from Bluesky on Skylight, and your content isn’t locked to one company’s servers. White’s quote in the article hits this hard, arguing that centralized control harms a creator’s connection with their audience. It’s a powerful sentiment, especially for creators who’ve felt burned by algorithmic shifts on other platforms. But let’s be real. Being “open” is a fantastic ethos and a great differentiator in a moment of crisis, but it’s not a magic bullet for user experience or discovery. The hard work of content moderation, building a vibrant community, and nailing the algorithmic “For You” feed (or its alternative) still remains.
A perfect storm of concerns
So why did people actually jump ship? It wasn’t just the ownership change. It was a perfect storm. First, you have the long-standing, politically charged fears about TikTok‘s Chinese ownership and data security. Then, the deal gets finalized, shifting control to a U.S. group with alleged ties to Trump. For many users, that didn’t feel like a solution; it just swapped one set of concerns for another. And then, TikTok pushed out a privacy policy update. Even though the much-criticized language about tracking “immigration status” was reportedly for legal compliance and not new, the timing was catastrophic. When you mix geopolitical tension, political allegiance worries, and a scary-sounding privacy update, you get a potent cocktail for user exodus. Some folks were clearly just looking for the nearest exit.
The scale problem is massive
Now for the heavy dose of skepticism. Skylight’s growth is impressive, no doubt. Going from roughly 95,000 monthly actives to adding 20,000 new users in a weekend is a big deal for them. But let’s keep this in perspective. TikTok has over 200 million monthly active users in the U.S. alone. Skylight’s total user base is a rounding error in that universe. The real test isn’t this crisis-driven surge; it’s what happens in three months. Do these new users stick around when the outrage cycle moves on? Is there enough compelling, native content on Skylight.social to keep them from drifting back to TikTok’s vastly larger creator ecosystem? History is littered with “alternative” platforms that saw a protest surge and then flatlined. Sustaining growth is a completely different game from capitalizing on a competitor’s bad week.
What success really looks like
I think Skylight’s founders probably know all this. Their play isn’t to “beat” TikTok in a head-on fight for mass market dominance—that’s impossible right now. Their play is to carve out a sustainable, principled niche. If they can be the home for creators and users who deeply value algorithmic transparency, data ownership, and interoperability, that’s a real business. The stats shared by co-founder Reed Harmeyer about returning users and posts increasing are more important than the raw signup number. That suggests engagement. Basically, they’ve been handed a golden opportunity to convert curious refugees into committed citizens. But it requires executing flawlessly on the boring stuff: server stability, a smooth app, and fostering those initial communities. If they can do that, they might just build something that lasts long after the TikTok deal news is forgotten.
