Twitter co-founder and blockchain advocate Jack Dorsey has followed through, at least partially, on his pledge to revive the much-missed six-second video platform Vine. According to TechCrunch, the rebooted app, named diVine, will feature more than 100, 000 archived videos, a fraction of the original platform’s vast database. At its peak a decade ago, Vine boasted over 200 million active monthly users before it was discontinued in 2016. A key distinguishing feature of the relaunch is the strict ban on AI-generated content; any suspected AI-created videos will be flagged and blocked from posting—an antidote to the internet’s growing saturation with uninspired AI content. The extensive archive of Vine videos was meticulously preserved by Archive Time, a “loose collective of rogue archivists, programmers, writers, and loudmouths devoted to saving our digital heritage. ” Early Twitter employee Evan “Rabble” Henshaw-Plath, now with Dorsey’s nonprofit “And Other Stuff, ” spearheaded the effort to revive the beloved platform by extracting the archive and making it accessible online once again. “Basically, I’m like, can we do something that’s kind of nostalgic?” Henshaw-Plath told TechCrunch. “Can we do something that takes us back, lets us see those old things, but also an era of social media where you controlled your algorithms, or chose who you follow, and it’s just your feed, knowing a real person recorded the video?” His reflection on a sentimental time free from pervasive AI content underscores the current climate. It highlights how fast technology has infiltrated almost every facet of daily life, filling our feeds with soulless, derivative material. “Companies see AI engagement and think people want it, ” he added. “They’re confusing—yes, people engage; yes, we use these things—but we also desire agency over our lives and social experiences.

There’s nostalgia for the early Web 2. 0 era, the blogging age, podcasting’s rise, the time of community-building instead of algorithm gaming. ” Rather than opening diVine to the public, the new app prioritizes around 60, 000 creators whose videos were preserved, allowing them to reclaim their Vine accounts and even upload new videos. Generative AI content is wholly prohibited. To enforce this, Henshaw-Plath employed technology from the human rights nonprofit Guardian Project to verify whether a video was genuinely recorded on a smartphone, as reported by TechCrunch. Built solely on an open-source protocol called Nostr, the app encourages developers to craft new applications without relying on venture capital, toxic business models, or large engineering teams, Dorsey explained in a TechCrunch statement. The project has generated significant interest already. “Well, that was fast—10, 000 people joined the divine. video TestFlight within four hours, ” Henshaw-Plath tweeted Thursday afternoon. While diVine is available on Android, its launch on Apple’s App Store appears unlikely soon. “Apple is being typically frustrating and clueless with its App Store reviews, ” Henshaw-Plath posted separately. “Just got rejected again. ” Challenges may lie ahead. Elon Musk, former Twitter owner, had promised in August to restore Vine’s archive; thus, if he learns of diVine, he might attempt to intervene or halt the initiative.