The 4 Platforms Racing to Become Canada’s Top Social Media
Written by Taylor Devoe
Hoping to make the switch to a Canadian social media platform? Here are the four to watch for and test out.
When the tariffs hit and the “Buy Canadian” movement soared, there seemed to be a heightened awareness amongst Canadians of how many things we use that are not Canadian-made, including the social media platforms we frequent. There are approximately 20 million Canadians just on Instagram - that’s more than half the population! Instagram is American-owned and has received a lot of criticism in recent years on data protection and algorithm frustrations. I received many DMs asking if I was aware of a Canadian-made alternative to Instagram, and at that time, I wasn’t. But Canadian entrepreneurs and innovators were working quietly behind-the-scenes to create something different (and better) for Canadians.
These are the four platforms to watch out for:
North Social
Eh!
Hey Cafe
Gander Social
NorthSocial.ca
“Canadians are clearly ready for something different when it comes to privacy and data ownership – and our team welcomes the healthy competition. It pushes all of us to build better systems for Canada” - Zynim Media Inc.
Founders: Zynim Media Inc.
People behind Northsocial.ca:
Colin Schmidt, Founder, CEO / CTO
Kalvin Morrow, Founder, COO
Lindsay Comeau, Founder, Creative Director
Brenda Currie, Founder, Marketing & Sales Director
Jill Santos, Partner - Zynim Inc., Community Engagement
HQ: Chilliwack, British Columbia
Core Elements: 100% Canadian-owned and operated, data is stored on Canadian infrastructure and good for community-building.
“We are not trying to replace mainstream social media. It would be unrealistic to expect the population to "switch”... We are simply creating a medium for connecting people, rooted in Canadian values – a space that exists alongside other platforms, not asking people to choose.”
Launch: Open to the public since July 1st, 2025. You can watch their Beta Launch Party here.
“We are addressing growing concerns across Canada about data sovereignty – meaning, who owns your data – and restoring the ability to share news in Canada, while keeping Canadian data on Canadian soil. We are also tackling something equally broken – the outrage culture that dominates mainstream social media.”
EH!
“Data stays local. Community is real. And the people using it actually feel like they own their experience.” - Jessica Glowacki
Founder: Jessica Glowacki
HQ :Parksville, British Columbia
Core Elements: EH! is a national Canadian social network built around chronological feeds, Canadian data sovereignty, and authentic community connection. Think less "neighbourhood app" and more "what social media used to feel like before the algorithm took over." Their focus is on giving Canadians a space to connect on their own terms, with their data staying in Canada.
Launch: Open to the public since August 2025.
“Over 21,000 users in without spending a dollar on advertising tells us the appetite is real. We let the product speak.”
Hey.Café
“I think the biggest difference we like to share is we use NO American providers, we don't have ads, we don't have algorithmic feeds, we don't track what users do and collect data on them, and we are fully user-funded so no venture capital funding that requires us to make money in ways that affects users negatively” - Anthony Lee
Founder: Anthony Lee
HQ: Penticton, British Columbia
Core Elements: Positioning themselves as a more creator-friendly, community-driven social platform, with an emphasis on conversation, micro-communities, or social discovery. They have a focus on sub-communities; they make it easy to follow a type of content in your feed.
Launch: Open to the public.
“Social sites right now are focused on being ad platforms to make money, and it hurts the users.”
Gander Social
Founder: Ben Waldman and a team of Canadian technologists, privacy specialists, and designers.
HQ: Ottawa, Ontario
Core Elements: They are positioning the app to be “fun, private, ethical social media built for Canada” with data hosted domestically. Their feed is controlled by the users, not an algorithm.
Launch: It is not public yet. They are currently open for beta-testing.
There is a lot of interest and hype from Canadians for this platform, including 2517 people who invested in them via crowdsourcing (raising over $2 million!). There was some talk in the media recently when household names Arlene Dickinson and Amber Mac pulled out as investors/advisors. With Arlene stating, “It became clear that my involvement was being treated as an endorsement more than a substantive advisory role.” Many folks voiced their disappointment on this via Threads. It will be interesting to see where they go from here.
After hearing from the creators (minus one), it became clear that they are all motivated by their passion for improving the user-experience, not profit or power. They’ve all come at this endeavour from their own creative angle and yet all believe in the same values: Canadian-owned, keep our data here, and get away from the toxic rage-bait algorithm.
We’re really excited to see Canadian innovators in action.
Interested in reading our full Q&A with each Founder? Read it here.
