Twitter-owned short video app Vine set to return in AI form after 8 years

Short-form video app Vine is set to make a strategic return to the social media ecosystem. The return will follow the platform’s transfomation to an an Artificial Intelligence powered platform. The development comes 8 years after the app was discontinued by Twitter. 

According to a post by the X (formerly Twitter) owner, Elon Musk, on Thursday, the famous platform that enables users to make 6-second looping clips will be revived in an AI model. Although Musk did not disclose when or how soon users should expect it. 

“We’re bringing back Vine, but in AI form,” the post reads. 

Founded by Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov, and Colin Kroll in 2012, Vine started as ‘Vine Labs’. The founders’ idea for the app was a social media platform focused on sharing short, looping clips, with a strict six-second time limit.

Twitter saw the potential and acquired Vine for a reported $30 million in October 2012, even before its official launch. 

Vine launched publicly in 2013 and quickly took off. The six-second limit forced a new kind of comedic storytelling and was popular for its delivery in a quick, unexpected way. The platform’s in-app camera would record only while the screen was being touched, enabling users to edit on the fly or create stop-motion effects.

Additional features were added to the app in July 2013. These included grid and ghost image tools for the camera, curated channels, and the ability to reshare videos on a personal stream and protected posts.

Whilst platforms like YouTube focused on building subscriber counts and communities around specific creators, Vine offered something fresh by recognising every user. A simple concept like flipping a water bottle could go viral across the platform, with creators putting their spin on each challenge.

Also, the short-form video app was used to browse videos, along with a group of content that were uploaded by theme, and hoping that users could “trend” videos. Vine competed with other social media services such as Instagram and Snapchat at the time.

By December 2015, Vine had accumulated over 200 million active users. 

However, Twitter shut down the app in 2017.

Also Read: 2 years after buying Twitter, has Elon Musk’s quest for free speech been achieved?

Why was Vine discontinued?

Despite Vine’s milestone and impact, it began to develop issues in 2015. According to reports, creators were generating massive amounts of views and engagement but struggled to make money directly from their content on the platform as there were no monetisation options. 

Other video platforms like YouTube had established advertising and partnership programs which offered creators a clear path to monetisation. Also, Instagram, with its  Reels, offered a similar short-form video format. 

Unlike Vine, Instagram integrated monetisation options through advertising and brand partnerships. As a result of this, creators migrated to platforms like Instagram and YouTube once they had made a name for themselves on Vine.

The monetisation struggles on the platform had a negative impact as the platform lost a bunch of big-name creators and its appeal to viewers. As fewer viewers meant less advertising revenue for the platform, it couldn’t keep up with operational costs. 

On October 27, 2016, Twitter announced that it would disable all uploads, but that viewing and downloading would continue to work. 

Twitter shut down Vine on January 17, 2017, and the app was discontinued a few months later. On January 20, 2017, Twitter launched an online archive of every Vine video that had ever been published. The archive was officially discontinued in April 2019.

Vine in AI form

Vine, with its expected comeback in AI form, will look to reshape the short-video content industry by making monetisation as significant and giving the likes of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube a run for their money.  

In addition, it comes at a time when short-video content is making waves with social media giants making a shift to standalone reels apps. 

A July 2025 statistical report revealed that 60% of short-form videos are watched for 41% to 80% of their length, and 57% of Gen Z prefer short videos to learn about products and services. Also, short-form videos receive 2.5 times more engagement than long-form videos.

In addition, Vine and Elon Musk will leverage X’s 650 million active users while competing with others to regain its lost users in an advanced ecosystem of over 200 million content creators.