The third edition of Web Summit Qatar has officially sold out, following a sharp spike in ticket demand triggered by the announcement that Issam Hijazi, founder of the viral social networking app Upscrolled, will deliver a keynote address on Opening Night in Doha.
Organisers confirmed that the 30,000-capacity technology conference reached full attendance less than 24 hours after revealing that Hijazi would speak on Sunday evening, marking his first major public appearance since Upscrolled’s rapid rise to global prominence.
Hijazi, a Palestinian-Jordanian-Australian technologist with decades of experience at firms including IBM, Oracle and Hitachi, has drawn international attention after Upscrolled became the number one free app on both Apple’s US App Store and the Google Play Store last week.
The platform’s user base reportedly surged from about 150,000 to more than one million within days.
Upscrolled positions itself as an alternative to major social media platforms, promising to counter what it describes as censorship, shadow-banning, clickbait and algorithm-driven content manipulation by Big Tech. Its sudden popularity followed widespread outages on TikTok and growing criticism of content moderation practices in the United States, particularly around discussions of sensitive political and security issues.
Okay News reports that Hijazi’s appearance has become one of the most anticipated moments of the conference, with global interest in his platform intensifying amid claims that Upscrolled itself may now be facing reduced visibility on established social networks.
This year’s Web Summit Qatar will bring together founders, investors, policymakers, media executives and technologists from more than 120 countries. Attendance has doubled since the inaugural Doha edition in 2024, which hosted about 15,000 participants.
In its third year, the event is also set to welcome a record 1,600 startups and 900 investors, including senior partners from major venture capital firms such as Amino Capital, Greycroft, B Capital and Initialized Capital.
Exhibition space sold out earlier in the year, with global brands including IBM, Microsoft, Huawei and Qatar Airways confirmed as partners.
The speaker lineup features a diverse mix of global figures, among them Larry Li of Amino Capital, ElevenLabs co-founder Mati Staniszewski, Qatar Foundation chairperson Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, B Capital co-founder Eduardo Saverin, activist and entrepreneur Colin Kaepernick, economist Yanis Varoufakis, YouTuber Logan Paul and creator Abir El Saghir.
