Vine 2.0? Twitter Reportedly Working To Bring Back Video Service After Musk Poll

Topline

Twitter’s new billionaire boss Elon Musk tasked employees with developing a new version of the defunct video platform Vine, Axios reported Monday, shortly after Musk floated the idea in a tweet, demonstrating the sway of public opinion on Musk as he remodels the social media service in the mold of his $44 billion vision.

Vine may return six years after shutting down.

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Key Facts

Vine could be relaunched as soon as this year, sources told Axios.

Twitter bought Vine, a short-form video app that is widely considered the direct predecessor to TikTok, for a reported $30 million in 2012 before shutting down the app in 2016.

News of Vine’s potential resurrection comes less than 24 hours after Musk tweeted a poll asking if there was interest in bringing back the service, receiving four million votes, more than two-thirds of which—or 2.8 million users—supported restoring Vine.

Key Background

Musk only officially took control of Twitter late Thursday, but the richest person on earth (or Mars) has already made sweeping changes at the company, firing its CEO Parag Agrawal and other top executives, planning to fire about 25% of all Twitter staff and reportedly considering charging $20 per month for a verified badge. Musk often groused about Twitter’s content moderation rules before closing the deal, though he said Friday he won’t make any major decisions until a “diverse” council can weigh in. The original Vine consisted of six-second mostly humorous video clips, and many of the app’s most popular users migrated to TikTok. The video space is far more competitive today than during Vine’s reign, with Meta’s Instagram Reels and Alphabet’s YouTube Shorts also major players in the space.

Crucial Quote

“💯,” Musk replied to a Twitter user Sunday night requesting Vine be integrated within Twitter as opposed to living in a separate app.

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Key Facts

Key Background

Crucial Quote

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