Vine-inspired video app Divine makes global debut, bans AI-generated content

Divine, a new short-form video app inspired by the now-defunct Vine, has opened to the public, bringing back six-second looping videos while positioning itself as an AI-free alternative to major social media platforms.

The app was created by former Twitter employee Evan Henshaw-Plath, known as Rabble, and is financially backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey through his nonprofit And Other Stuff. Dorsey does not hold equity or ownership in Divine.

Like Vine, Divine allows users to create and share six-second videos that play on a continuous loop. It also hosts more than two million archived videos from the original Vine platform, reconstructed from data preserved by the Internet Archive.

Divine is not affiliated with Vine or Twitter, which acquired Vine before its public launch and shut the service down in 2017.

A key point of differentiation is its ban on AI-generated content. Users can either record videos directly through the app or verify uploaded content using technology designed to establish how the media was created.

The platform is built on Nostr, an open social protocol, and is intended to give creators greater control over their content and audiences rather than relying on the closed systems used by major social networks.

Divine also aims to move away from engagement-driven recommendation systems. The company has positioned its six-second constraint and emphasis on human-created content as an alternative to feeds increasingly populated by algorithmically optimised and AI-generated material.

The platform has also begun exploring commercial partnerships. Taco Bell has signed on as Divine’s first brand collaborator, tied to the fast-food chain’s Decades campaign.

Divine currently has no conventional advertising business model, although Henshaw-Plath has not ruled out advertising in the future. Other potential revenue models include paid creator features and tools enabling users to monetise their audiences directly.

The public launch follows an earlier invite-only rollout and puts Divine into an increasingly crowded short-form video market dominated by TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Divine is also available to users in India, with the app listed on both Google Play and Apple’s App Store in the country.