A fresh social media platform aiming to revive the spirit of the pioneering short-form video era has officially launched for public use.
Named Divine, the application lets creators produce and share video clips lasting precisely six seconds that automatically play on a continuous loop. In addition to brand-new content, the platform includes a massive archive of more than two million original clips salvaged from Vine, the popular service that helped launch the careers of numerous digital celebrities before its closure.
Evan Henshaw-Plath, a former employee of Twitter who developed the application, explained that he launched the project to provide a fresh start for online networking. He noted that current digital platforms have strayed from their original paths and expressed a desire to build an alternative that fosters genuine human connection and entertainment.
A key feature of the new platform is a strict prohibition against artificial intelligence technology. Henshaw-Plath stated that he wanted to eliminate the ambiguity surrounding digital media, allowing participants to enjoy content without questioning its authenticity or origins.
The project has received financial backing from Jack Dorsey, who served in a leadership role at Twitter when the company acquired Vine in 2012. Divine operates on a decentralized framework known as Nostr, distinguishing it from centralized giants like TikTok and Instagram. This underlying architecture allows participants to maintain ownership of their profiles and data, enabling them to transition between different compatible services rather than remaining confined to a single ecosystem. Similar decentralized approaches have been adopted by alternative microblogging services such as Bluesky and Mastodon.
To enforce its ban on synthetic media, Divine utilizes multiple verification safeguards. Users must capture footage live directly through the application instead of uploading pre-recorded files from external sources. The platform also incorporates a digital receipt tool called ProofMode to verify recording timestamps and detect whether files have undergone tampering. Furthermore, the community can report suspicious posts, which are then reviewed by a combination of automated filters and human moderators.
Industry analysts suggest that steering away from conventional engagement loops presents a unique obstacle for the newcomer. According to experts, the algorithms and addictive features that draw criticism on modern platforms are often the very mechanics that maintain user retention, leaving the new service with the task of proving it can sustain interest without traditional digital hooks.
The revival of the vintage video catalog came about after Henshaw-Plath discovered that a complete copy of Vine's historical data had been preserved by the Internet Archive. Following months of reconstruction efforts, the platform went live to immediate demand, experiencing heavy traffic that briefly overwhelmed its servers during the initial hours of release. Organizers attribute the enduring appeal of the six-second format to its concise nature, likening the constraint to poetic forms that derive power from brevity.
Reporting based on coverage first published by BBC News. Read the original report at BBC News.
