Is Vine really coming back? Elon Musk teases return amid TikTok shakeup
TikTok/XIn all of the uncertainty surrounding the TikTok ban, X CEO Elon Musk teased the return of a classic social media platform. So, is Vine coming back?
It has been a tumultuous few weeks as the status of TikTok has been thrown in and out of question. Following a bill being passed to ban the app, owner ByteDance made multiple attempts to keep it online.
Legislation stated that TikTok would need to be sold into the ownership of US interests in order to continue operating in the country. As a result, multiple parties were rumored to be vying for ownership including MrBeast and Elon Musk.
With these speculative purchases amounting to nothing, the ban was upheld and in the wake of the shutdown, Musk floated the idea of reviving legendary social media platform Vine. If you’re wondering how credible a potential Vine return may be, we’ve got you covered.
X/X: Elon MuskWhat is Vine?
It’s been eight long years since Vine dropped off the map entirely so there’s a very good chance that many readers may not have experienced the progenitor of short-form content. Vine emerged all the way back in the before times of 2012 with the simple premise of being a bite-sized video-sharing platform that restricted posts to six seconds in length.
The app rapidly gained traction thanks to the ability to share content to other platforms like Facebook and what was once Twitter. The most popular form of content produced on the platform was undoubtedly a unique brand of fast-paced comedy governed by the six-second time restrictions.
Many popular content creators today got their start on Vine including Jake and Logan Paul, David Dobrik, Drew Gooden, Danny Gonzalez, and more. The app was purchased by Twitter (now X) for $30 million in 2013, just four months after it went live.
Unfortunately, Vine was short-lived after issues with monetizing the app via ad revenue emerged. In 2016, it was announced that uploads to Vine would be discontinued. In early 2017, the app went offline entirely.
Having seen the writing on the wall, many Vine creators migrated to other video-oriented platforms such as YouTube and eventually TikTok. Of course, many internet denizens have called for a revival of Vine in the years since its termination and those prayers could be answered in the future.
Will we see Vine make a comeback?
As the US TikTok ban approached with limited signs that it would not be upheld, social media users began scrambling for a replacement. Multiple suggestions were made to bring Vine back, one of which prompted a response from the current CEO of X, Elon Musk.
Simply stating that the team at X was “looking into” the possibility of a Vine revival, it’s not 100% certain whether or not anything will come of it. The comment was made under the assumption that TikTok would no longer be available in the US but within less than 24 hours, it was announced that the app would be brought back online.
With a major competitor back on the market, it’s possible that Musk will forgo the revival. However, X still owns the Vine platform and is capable of bringing it back online.
In 2022 Musk polled X users on whether or not Vine should be brought back. The result was an overwhelming yes with 69.6% of the 4,920,155 participating users pushing for the comeback.
Nothing has been done since and there has been no concrete proposal for a true revival of Vine. Of course, with TikTok still being in a precarious situation, it would be unwise to discount it entirely.