Skylight, a short-form video app built on open source technology, is seeing a sharp rise in users following concerns surrounding TikTok US’s recent ownership changes. The startup said it has now surpassed 380,000 users and continues to grow after a surge in activity over the weekend.
Launched last year, Skylight offers a vertical video experience similar to TikTok. The app is backed by Mark Cuban and other investors.
How Skylight is Different
Skylight’s mobile app is built on the AT Protocol, the same open technology that powers Bluesky, which now has more than 42 million users. The protocol allows Skylight to stream videos directly from Bluesky in addition to hosting content uploaded to its own platform.
The company was co-founded by CEO Tori White and CTO Reed Harmeyer. Skylight offers a built-in video editor, user profiles, likes, comments, sharing features, and community-curated custom feeds that users can follow.
The platform now hosts more than 150,000 videos uploaded directly by users.
Engagement Spike Over The Weekend
Harmeyer said Saturday that 1.4 million videos were played on the app the previous day, representing a threefold increase within 24 hours. During the same period, sign-ups rose by more than 150%.
Other engagement metrics also climbed. Skylight reported a more than 50% increase in returning users, over a 40% rise in average videos played, and more than a 100% jump in posts created.
The company said the surge likely followed TikTok’s ownership changes and technical issues that occurred around the same time.
Since yesterday we’ve been working to restore our services following a power outage at a U.S. data center impacting TikTok and other apps we operate. We're working with our data center partner to stabilize our service. We're sorry for this disruption and hope to resolve it soon.
— TikTok USDS Joint Venture (@tiktokusdsjv) January 26, 2026
TikTok Ownership Shift
On January 22, TikTok announced the formation of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC to comply with an executive order from President Donald Trump requiring the sale of TikTok’s US operations to American investors. Under the deal, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will own less than 20% of the new entity.
The restructuring followed heightened tensions between the US and China, driven by concerns that TikTok could pose a national security risk through data collection and algorithmic influence.
However, some users have since expressed concern about the new American investors and their political alignment.
Questionable Privacy Policy Changes
User unease intensified after TikTok released an updated privacy policy that allows GPS location tracking. Some users also highlighted language referencing immigration status tracking.
While that language was not new and is tied to compliance with state privacy laws, the update prompted calls on social media for users to delete the app.
Although it remains unclear how many users left TikTok, some appear to have sought alternatives.
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