Orkut’s founder asks users to support a possible comeback

Orkut Büyükkökten, founder of the social network Orkut, is asking people to visit Orkut.com and register their support for bringing the platform back. He also urged them to invite others to join.

Orkut launched in 2004 as a side project Büyükkökten created while working at Google. It became popular in India and Brazil before losing ground to Facebook. Google shut it down in September 2014. The platform had about 300 million active users.

In a letter on Orkut.com, Büyükkökten criticized the influence of algorithms and AI-generated content on social media. He wrote that AI was dissolving the premise that there was a person on the other side of a social network, and called for rebuilding an internet centered on authentic people and real connection.

Büyükkökten previously launched Hello, a social network focused on shared interests, in 2016. It shut down in 2020 after attracting more than 2 million downloads worldwide. In 2022, he hinted at a new venture, and in 2024 told WIRED he was working on a social network using AI and machine learning to connect people and build communities. That platform has not launched.

He has not said whether an Orkut revival is in development or whether it will launch. TechCrunch said an email seeking comment did not receive a response.