Vine Is Officially Making a Comeback — With a Major Twist

Vine—the once-viral short-form video app that dominated social media in the early 2010s—is officially returning under a new name and a new vision. The revived version, titled diVine, is backed by Jack Dorsey (via his nonprofit and Other Stuff) and aims to merge Vine’s iconic six-second looping format with a strong stance against AI-generated content.

A Nostalgic Vine Resurrection with High Stakes

The timing is telling: amid the explosion of short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, and the rise of AI-generated content, diVine positions itself as a purist reboot of the early Web 2.0 era—minus the algorithm-driven churn and synthetic videos. “We’re sooo back,” the announcement reads.

How the New Vine Works (And How It’s Different)

diVine is more than just nostalgia. The platform will give users access to a restored archive of more than 100,000 original Vine videos pulled from an old backup. Creators will also be able to upload new content—but with a major caveat: uploads suspected of being AI-generated will be flagged or blocked. The decision to explicitly ban generative-AI videos is a key differentiator.

Additionally, the app is built on the decentralized Nostr protocol, meaning that anyone can theoretically run their own relays or servers for it. Dorsey emphasised that this revival is “permissionless” and open-source at heart.

Why This Move Matters

The original Vine was loved because of its simplicity and limits: six seconds to capture a moment, tell a joke, or experiment, often looping for comedic effect. It helped launch creative formats, memes, and influencers who became mainstream stars. The shutdown in 2016 left many creators and fans feeling a void. Now, its rebirth taps into nostalgia and taps into current concerns about AI’s impact on creative work.

For the wider social-media ecosystem, diVine’s arrival signals a shift: a re-validation of human-made content, creative constraint over algorithmic optimisation, and decentralised models as counterpoints to the dominant corporate platforms.

The One Catch (And It’s a Big One)

But revival doesn’t guarantee relevance. The app enters a saturated market where users already scroll past hundreds of short-form videos daily. Now it’s asking: Do we need another short-video platform, one that restricts AI and revives old archives? Some creators are excited, others sceptical. As one Redditor put it:

“I’m not sure if I’m ready to hear ‘do it for the Vine!’ again.”

Moreover, while diVine rejects AI-generated content, one of Vine’s key rivals—Elon Musk’s X platform—is reportedly working on Grok Imagine, a tool for AI-generated short videos. The contrast sets the two models at odds: human creativity and constraint vs. AI generation and scale.

What Comes Next

diVine is now available on iOS and Android, offering both the archival content and the new upload capability. Creators interested in reclaiming their old Vine usernames or content can submit DMCA requests or verify ownership.

If the platform gains traction, it could reshape how creators think about short-form content: less about follower count and algorithmic reach, more about loops, creativity, and practice. But if it flops, it might fade into footnote territory—another nostalgia project that couldn’t keep up with the pace of modern social media.

For now, millions of ex-Viners and millennials may get their wish: Vine is back. But this time, it’s fighting the AI tide and betting on a more human-crafted moment.

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