Vine video-sharing app is back – and battling AI slop

As a pioneer of the short-form video format, Vine has been credited as one of the most influential – if short-lived – social media platforms.The app, which allowed users to record a looping six seconds of video, boomed in popularity after its launch in 2013, spawning a plethora of viral comedy sketches and internet memes. It hit 100 million monthly active users at its peak and helped launch the careers of influencers such as Logan Paul.It was snapped up by Twitter – now X – soon after its creation, but closed in 2017 after the platform failed to make the sums add up.Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder, is now backing an attempt to bring back a revamped version of the much-loved platform with a new philosophy: to be the short-form video app offering “freedom from AI slop”.The former Twitter chief executive has funded the new platform, which will host 500,000 videos from the original Vine app and also let users post new content. Any new material has to meet the traditional six-second time limit and must also be made by a human. Under a new name, Divine, the platform has relaunched in app stores, with a philosophy stating: “Creative power belongs in human hands.”It comes as low-quality AI-generated material is becoming increasingly hard to avoid online. Recent research found that more than 20% of the videos that YouTube’s algorithm showed to new users were “AI slop”.Divine was initially launched to testers last November, hosting 100,000 popular videos from the original app, and it is now open to everyone. The project has been spearheaded by Evan Henshaw-Plath, known online as Rabble, a former Twitter employee who wanted to give old vines a permanent home. He said there had already been interest from some original Vine creators in the project.While the return of the app will generate nostalgia among a large cohort of web users, those behind its return have bigger aims. “Divine began as a personal project to reconnect with a time when the internet felt creative, open, and unquestionably human,” said Henshaw-Plath.“The overwhelming response we got to our initial announcement has turned my side project into more of a movement. The app launch is less about nostalgia, and more an antidote to what social media has become.“Divine will start to redress the balance of power by giving creators and users more of a say in their online social lives and businesses.”To ensure no AI-generated content is posted, Divine makes users either record videos directly on the app or verify them as human-made using a verification tool.Funding has come through Dorsey’s non-profit fund, and Other Stuff, which backs open source social media projects. “It is no secret that we didn’t find a business model for Vine,” said Dorsey. “A founding principle for Divine is that creators will always be in full control of their content and followers, enabling them to create and grow their own revenue streams.”The project reflects the regret felt by key parties in the sale and closure of the original Vine. The app’s founder, Rus Yusupov, made no secret of his belief that the sale to Twitter was an error. After Twitter announced it was closing the site, he posted: “Don’t sell your company!”However important Vine may have been in the evolution of digital platforms, the new app faces huge barriers to success. Short-form video has exploded, with sites such as TikTok now established. Meta has its own platforms, including Instagram Reels. YouTube Shorts, owned by Google, averages more than 200bn daily views.