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.
Thousands of Just Eat couriers launch legal action to improve workers’ rights
More than 7,000 Just Eat couriers are taking legal action against the food delivery company in an attempt to gain better employment rights including the minimum wage and holiday pay.The employment tribunal, which begins on Tuesday and is set to run until 2 June, will determine if the couriers are classed as workers, a status that comes with improved rights, or self-employed independent contractors.Judgment is expected later in 2026.Just Eat dismissed about 1,700 couriers in the UK in 2023 when it returned to a gig economy model and scrapped an experiment that offered guaranteed minimum pay, sick pay and holiday pay in six cities in the UK and Europe.Under its “Scoober” experiment, couriers who Just Eat said handled less than 5% of UK orders at the time and also worked set shifts, were provided with e-bikes or e-mopeds and had the option to operate from a central hub, where they could pick up equipment and take breaks
UK food prices on track to rise by 50% since start of cost of living crisis
Food prices are on track to be 50% higher in November than at the start of the cost of living crisis in 2021, research suggests.Climate and energy shocks have driven an almost quadrupling of the pace of food price growth, according to research from the thinktank Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), with costs rising in five years at about the same rate as they had over the previous two decades.Anna Taylor, the executive director of the Food Foundation charity, said: “Food prices rising this high and this fast leaves families on the lowest incomes with nowhere left to cut except the food on their plate. When that happens, people skip meals, children go hungry, and diet-related illness rises – taking parents out of work and piling pressure on an NHS that can least afford it.”The research suggests that the cost of living crisis, which many voters blame on political elites and big business, is likely to continue to be an important political issue during 2026
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”
GameStop makes $55.5bn takeover offer for eBay
US video games retailer GameStop has offered to buy eBay for $55.5bn (£41bn) in an unsolicited bid that its boss warned could turn hostile if the proposal is rebuffed by eBay’s board.GameStop, which has quietly accumulated a 5% stake in eBay, said it was willing to pay $125 a share, split 50-50 between cash and stock.It is an ambitious move by the games company, which catapulted to fame during the meme-stock craze of 2021 but is worth far less than its takeover target. GameStop had a market valuation of roughly $12bn on Friday before its bid, while eBay – originally launched as a side hobby by its founder Pierre Omidyar in 1995 – is worth about $46bn
Root’s golden arm leads Yorkshire past Somerset, Kent thrash Derbyshire: county cricket, day four
Joe Root has often won games for Yorkshire with the bat, not so often with his golden arm. But it was spin twins Root (four for 49) and Dom Bess (four for 60) who did for Somerset, chasing 260 in front of a good bank holiday Monday crowd. George Hill, charging in with zip, bowled Archie Vaughan and Tom Lammonby cheaply, then Bess removed danger men James Rew, who had a rare bad match, and his great friend Tom Abell.Root impishly polished off most of the tail. Thomas Rew got off the mark, and a pair, with a sweet cover driver for four and played nicely for his 30 before being removed caught Bairstow, bowled Root – surely a badge of honour in his first Championship game
Champions Cup final will have independent TV director in charge
An independent broadcast director is set to be in position for this month’s Champions Cup final in Bilbao after disquiet about the lack of crucial replays available to match officials during Bath’s 38-26 semi-final defeat against Bordeaux-Bègles on Sunday.Johann van Graan, Bath’s head of rugby, suggested three high tackles on his No 8, Alfie Barbeary, were missed because the referee and television match official (TMO) had not been supplied with all the requisite angles by the French host broadcaster. Members of the commentary team on Premier Sports also highlighted the absence of replay footage.Different protocols are in place in the Champions Cup compared with the United Rugby Championship and the Six Nations, when an independent operator sits with the TMO to ensure the best pictures are readily available. On Sunday, under EPCR regulations relating to host country arrangements, a French director was in place
Saplings in prisons and bogs on military ranges: Labour’s plans for nature-friendly state land
Labour MPs say ‘endless drama’ of leadership speculation must stop
‘Voting Green will stop Reform’: party eyes kingmaker role in Wales
Why UK voters are impossible to satisfy | Brief letters
Starmer adviser held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US tech bosses
UK politics: Polanski says he would ‘discourage’ the use of ‘globalise the intifada’ chant on marches – as it happened