Now in open beta on iOS and Android, Spill

Elon Musk bought Twitter more than a year ago, and its effects are still being felt on other social platforms, including new ones. Ex-Twitter employees founded Spill, which is closing out its first year by opening its beta to all iOS and Android users.

Spill, unlike X, alienates users with platform policies that make the app less inclusive. The founders of Spill met on Twitter because they were the only two black people in their employee orientation and are building a platform that values diversity from the start.

“On every other platform, culture drivers—black and brown folks, marginalized folks, queer folks—have had to kind of elbow to create space,” Spill’s VP of community and partnerships, Kenya Parham, told. “We think starting with them at the front will create a really healthy ecosystem.”

The app is a multimedia-driven Twitter-Tumblr hybrid that lets you follow people and scroll through your feed. Spill launched its “Tea Party” feature at AfroTech last month, allowing users to have live audio or video conversations. Kerry Washington hosted the first Tea Party, where she discussed her new memoir.

About 200,000 people use Spill, CEO Alphonzo Terrell told reporters on his one-year anniversary after being laid off from Twitter. The company has raised $5 million in pre-seed funding, including a $2 million extension from Collide Capital.

Spill may not be growing as fast as Bluesky, Mastodon, or Threads, but Terrell isn’t worried.