Tribela Launches in Canada as Platform Gains Global Traction

Incubated by Oxford University Innovation, the world’s first intentional-by-design social platform has welcomed leading Canadian online child safety advocates to its advisory team alongside its expansion.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tribela, the world’s first social platform that’s intentional-by-design, announced it is now available in Canada, providing a space between digital detox and doomscrolling. In tandem, Tribela has added renowned child safety experts to its advisory team, including Margot Denommé, a Canadian online child safety advocate. Rachel Bautista, a former Meta product marketer, and Dr. Jun Zhao, Official Fellow in AI at Oxford University's Reuben College, continue to serve as instrumental advisors.

Tribela has quickly gained users in over 40 countries during its controlled beta. The company has also launched Tribela Labs, its in-house AI moderation and integrity system, which is designed to be licensed to other communities as a proactive layer to help reduce harmful content at scale. As a membership-supported platform, Tribela also launched the Tribela Creator fund, which supports original projects, paying creators across genres to produce work without relying on algorithms or performance pressure.

“As a Canadian mom, I have lived experience of what it’s like to ban your children on social media. My child faced harm. As a result, I pulled my family off devices and realized that being connected online doesn't have to be harmful, and it's also socially isolating in today's world,” said Natalie Boll, Founder and CEO of Tribela. “Tribela brings the good parts of social media between overload and withdrawal. With Canada now in talks to ban social media entirely for younger users, Tribela offers a new design to change the narrative. Canada is where the birth story of Tribela happened, and it only feels right to bring the platform home."

After her child was forced to choose between harmful platforms or disconnecting altogether, Canadian founder and mother Natalie Boll created Tribela following extensive independent research. Boll’s work was informed by whistleblower disclosures from former Facebook data scientist Frances Haugen, which showed that social media companies knew their products posed risks to users but continued to amplify product-driven harms.¹ Tribela was later incubated at Oxford University, where Boll worked with academic and technical advisors, drawing on hundreds of interviews with families and users, analysis of court cases against social platforms, and global safety-by-design standards to identify how platform design can meaningfully reduce harm.

Tribela’s customizable feeds give users control, protective moderation combining AI and human review, and content without performance metrics like visible likes or follower counts. The platform's intentional design includes clear stopping points and no infinite scroll, giving users more control of their experience on the platform.

The app previously raised $800,000 in pre-seed funding to create its proprietary moderation system. The platform is currently accelerating product development, including the launch of Tribela’s Android app, the rollout of new community and creator features, and continued investment in privacy-first infrastructure and regulatory compliance. The company plans to hire up to ten new team members in 2026 across engineering, product, platform operations, and compliance. Starting with Canada, Tribela will also expand to other international regions.

As a former Crown prosecutor for 26 years, Margot Denommé understands how the current social media landscape can overwhelm families. “Tribela is the first platform I’ve seen that addresses these risks by design: no infinite scroll, no algorithm-driven toxic content, and strong protective safeguards,” said Denomme, Founder and CEO of Raising Awareness About Digital Dangers (RAADD). “I’m proud to support Tribela’s launch in Canada because it fills a real need. Parents and kids are struggling, and Tribela offers a healthier path, delaying mainstream social media, encouraging connection, and ultimately fostering a positive community.”

Engineer-turned-marketer Rachel Bautista, who spent a decade in marketing in the tech industry, says Tribela takes a fundamentally different approach. “From my experience in the industry, most social platforms weren’t engineered for young people, and have had to add protective features later. Tribela was created with young users in mind from day one. As a parent, I’m proud to support Natalie’s mission to keep users safe.”

As an expert in ethical AI design for children, Dr. Jun Zhao applauds the deep and thoughtful process Tribela has undertaken to assess and implement safeguarding measures, including age verification and AI-based content moderation, while consistently prioritizing children’s agency in the design. “Although the technologies required to achieve these goals have long existed, implementing them responsibly, without over-restricting children’s access while still providing sufficient protection and enabling exploration, remains a significant challenge. Tribela has embraced this principle of protection-through-agency from the very outset of its design and vision. I am impressed by what Natalie has achieved,” said Dr. Zhao, Official Fellow in AI at Oxford University's Reuben College.

To join Tribela’s mission, visit tribela.com. Users can download Tribela from the Apple App Store.

About Tribela

Tribela is the world’s first intentional-by-design social platform. With membership-supported funding, customizable feeds, and protective moderation, Tribela delivers the good parts of social media, real connection, creative discovery, meaningful community, without the infinite scroll, performance pressure, or toxic content. Founded on research from Oxford University Innovation and shaped by lived experience, the platform features a creator economy where quality matters over virality. Now available on the App Store, Tribela has active users across 40+ countries. Learn more about our community at tribela.com.

¹https://www.npr.org/2021/10/05/1043377310/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-congress