Topline
Billionaire X owner Elon Musk could bring back once-popular short-form video app Vine, asking users in a poll on Wednesday whether X should revive the shuttered app, potentially following through on months of speculation about a Vine comeback years after Twitter shelved the platform.
Key Facts
Musk asked X users whether the company formerly known as Twitter—which purchased Vine in 2012—should “bring back Vine,” collecting more than 450,000 responses in less than an hour (the poll closes at 2:37 p.m. EST Thursday).
Musk had reportedly suggested bringing back the app shortly after he finalized his $44 billion purchase for Twitter in October 2022, with sources telling Axios at the time that Twitter was in exploratory discussions to revive the app.
While Musk in no way is required to abide by the outcome of his poll, his recent history since taking over Twitter suggests he might make his mind up based on X users’ responses.
Tangent
Musk’s time as X’s principal owner has been riven with controversies and policy changes, but he has a history of making decisions that line up with poll results. In December 2022, the billionaire polled users on Twitter on whether he should step down as the company’s CEO, and later resigned after 57.5% of respondents on the poll supported his resignation. That same month, Musk created a poll asking whether Twitter should restore journalists’ accounts that had been suspended for allegedly violating Twitter’s personal privacy policy by sharing Musk’s location. Nearly 59% of users said those accounts should be reinstated immediately, and days later, Musk brought back the accounts. In December, Musk restored the account of controversial InfoWars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, once again following a poll.
Key Background
Twitter purchased Vine in 2012, months ahead of its launch in January 2013, with the app quickly emerging as a prominent social media site, challenging then-newcomers such as Instagram, Snapchat and anonymous posting app Yik Yak. The platform specialized in letting users share ultra-short videos—six seconds or less. Less than four years after its launch, however, Twitter announced it would shut Vine down, and while the company did not provide a reason for its termination, it followed a round of layoffs and came as then-Twitter-CEO Jack Dorsey struggled to find a company to buy Twitter. Its ending also came as ByteDance released TikTok, the rival video platform that has since established itself as one of the most popular social media apps in the country, especially among teenagers.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Musk’s net worth stands at $185.5 billion, making him the world’s third-richest person, only behind LVMH magnate Bernard Arnault and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose valuation has flip-flopped with Musk for weeks.
