In the weeks leading up to the Jan. 19 TikTok ban in the U.S., fans of the app have been scrambling to find a fitting replacement for their favorite social media platform (a search that has been made all the more dire by the Supreme Court’s Jan. 17 ruling to uphold the ban). Whether they’re looking to familiar names like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, or jumping ship and learning Mandarin for REDnote, it’s clear U.S. “TikTok refugees” — as many are calling themselves — are desperate for a platform to scratch the same itch. But could TikTok’s replacement come in the form of an app that doesn’t quite exist yet? Ashley Darling, the CEO of the up-and-coming social platform Neptune, thinks so.
Neptune, which has yet to be made available to the public, is a social video platform with an endless-scroll video feed just like TikTok’s, but with a uniquely customizable algorithm and the added ability to house long form content, much like YouTube. It also offers monetization for creators and the option to hide metrics like followers and likes in order to prioritize creativity over popularity.
Another huge selling point is Neptune’s focus on inclusivity. As a former content creator and social media consultant, Darling started Neptune as a way for creators of all walks of life to “create their own content, talk about what they want to talk about, be who they want to be,” she tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview.
Darling has been promoting Neptune on other social media platforms since September, and though very few people have had the chance to actually test it out, it’s already received a warm welcome from many excited TikTok users. “I feel like we’re this small entity coming into this gladiator ring with all of these huge giants,” she says. But it’s not stopping Darling and her team from charging ahead.
Below, Darling tells Her Campus all about Neptune, including how it really stacks up against TikTok and how eager users can get in line for early access.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
First thing’s first, the people need to know: When will Neptune be available?
Our app is undergoing internal beta testing, so it’s just the team right now. In just a couple weeks, we’re going to start opening it up to our gathered pool of beta users. We’re limited to 10,000 users for the testing and we have over 10,000 signed up, so we’re going to just cycle people through and open up the wait list as often as we can as space becomes available. And then we are slated for an iOS app store launch in the spring, and early summer for Android. In the meantime, you can keep up with us on Instagram and also sign up for the email notification for when we launch to app stores. We also have a Discord server where we roll out a lot of updates. I go in there to do Q&As and get input for what users actually want from a social media platform.
What was your inspiration for Neptune?
I was a content creator for about 20 years, and then pivoted into consulting for social media personalities and people in Hollywood who needed to grow a personal brand online. I started seeing a lot of disparities between the way that BIPOC, queer, and disabled people were treated on these platforms, and that they were oftentimes censored or shadow banned just for being who they are and talking about their lived experience. And I just couldn’t sit with that. I started having this idea in the spring of last year. The choice was like, do you infiltrate the giants and try to create change from within, or do you make your own? I posted to Threads about it, and that’s where our CTO Chris Jones found me.
What are the similarities between TikTok and Neptune?
People have kind of described our platform as a hybrid cross between TikTok and YouTube. We’re similar to YouTube in terms of longer-form content — we can host videos up to 90 minutes — but we do have that scrolling video feed just like TikTok does. We have monetization options for creators, and live streaming will be available. I think the biggest similarity between TikTok is that video feed and that algorithm that everybody loves so much.
What’s the biggest difference?
Something that really kind of sets us apart in this space is that you can either put your algorithm on autopilot, where it just chooses for you, or you can put it on manual mode and actually manipulate your own algorithm in real time, choosing exactly what you want to see and how much of it that you want to see. TikTok has something similar, but it’s vague and relies on you to get categorized by TikTok. On Neptune, we allow you to categorize yourself so you have a better chance of discoverability and connecting with your people.
What makes Neptune stand out from other TikTok alternatives YouTube Shorts, IG Reels, or REDnote?
Our customizable algorithm is really the biggest unique selling point for us in terms of features, but we don’t tend to lead with our features. We tend to lead with our values and what we believe in, and the difference that we’re trying to make in the social media industry. Our values are equity, community, and enterprise. That’s a bigger pull for most people than features. Every app has cool features; it isn’t going to be what makes you stand out. A lot of people have had that experience of being censored and shadow banned on TikTok simply for being who they are, and those are the people that are coming over to Neptune and really jazzed up about what we have to offer.
TikTok Shop was a controversial feature on that app. Will there be something similar on Neptune?
The answer to that question is an overwhelming no — we have no desire to dip our toes into this massive e-commerce space at this time. There could be a possibility for something like a creator marketplace in the future. But with Neptune, what’s more likely is that we will have API plugins for people’s profiles.They can customize their profile fully, so they’ll be able to add API plugins for things like Etsy, Shopify, SoundCloud, and they can have people be able to shop directly from their profile.
What about ads?
In terms of advertising, it’s a little bit of a different beast. At this point, advertising has kind of become industry standard on pretty much any social media platform that has a video feed. It’s a great way to keep the lights on. So we will have ads on the platform, but they’re not going to be overly intrusive. One thing that we are planning to do with ads is make them opt-in. So when you’re watching a creator’s piece of content and you’re like, “Man, I love this,” you can opt in to watch an ad on their behalf. It’s a way for our creators to be able to monetize themselves and for the users to be able to support their favorite creators with a very low barrier to entry, because a lot of us just don’t have the money to be sending to all the creators we love so much.
Why did you opt to de-emphasize likes and follower counts?
There’s a psychological phenomenon that happens where you go to someone’s profile and if they have 5 million followers, your automatic assumption is that their content must be worth more. And that’s not always the case. So what we wanted to do is remove that unintentional bias that our brains have. If people choose to post their follower account in their status, there’s nothing we can do to stop them. But it’s not going to be plastered to the top of their page — one of the biggest things we’re doing differently from a lot of other platforms is we’re burying the follower count a little bit farther down. Or, with our ghost metrics, users can choose to hide likes or their follower count. It really allows you to get to know that creator for who they are and the type of content they create rather than making a snap judgment based on their follower count or likes.
How will Neptune approach hate speech and misinformation?
In our community guidelines, we’re very clear that we do not allow hate speech. We do not allow racial slurs. We do not allow homophobia, transphobia, misogyny.
With fact-checking, the issue runs deeper than seeing something and having the platform tell you, “This might be misinformation.” We’re not a platform for children, so I think people should be able to do their own research. If someone’s coming onto the platform and spreading misinformation that’s an incitement to violence, obviously that will be dealt with. But if it’s misinformation about something that’s pretty easily verifiable, we kind of leave that up to our users to use their discretion there.
What are your thoughts on the TikTok ban in general?
As a tech CEO, it’s a little bit scary to me to watch what’s going on. It makes me nervous for the future of censorship, both outside and within our platform.
As a female CEO of an emerging tech company, what are your thoughts on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent comments calling for more masculine energy in the workplace?
We get thousands of comments all the time on our stuff, saying, “This will never work. You guys aren’t going anywhere. What are you doing?” And then to see things like Zuckerberg’s comment that we’re all too soft, it’s like, let’s try something new. We’ve done the whole male-led social media platforms. Look how that’s going. It’s time for something different.
What does the future of Neptune look like?
We truly believe that the next wave of entertainment stars and the future of entertainment is user-generated content. Everybody wants to be an entertainer these days, and Neptune wants to be the place where that’s housed. In looking to the future, we definitely want to have a TV app like YouTube does, where people can interact from their phone and watch the content on the TV. We want to have a very immersive experience for each creator to offer a fully branded experience for their audience.
We understand that in this current sociopolitical climate, it’s hard to trust social media platforms. We understand that it takes time to build that trust. We deeply appreciate those who already have placed trust in us as a company, as a brand, as a platform. But we also respect that it’s going to take some time for us to prove who we say we are. We want to come onto the scene and have people say, ‘Yes, they did exactly what they said they were going to do.’ None of us on the team have any aspirations to be billionaires. That’s not where our heart is. Our heart is in making sure that our content creators and their audiences have a space to be exactly who they are, and they can monetize the hell out of their creativity.