Remember Orkut? Its Founder Wants to Bring It Back, This Time Without the Algorithms

Orkut Büyükkökten is asking users to help revive the social network he built inside Google, promising authentic connection in an era of AI generated feeds.

More than a decade after Google pulled the plug on Orkut, the platform’s founder is making a public pitch to bring it back. Orkut Büyükkökten took to X on Thursday to urge users to visit Orkut.com and add their names in support of a revival, inviting others to do the same.

The ask is simple, but the vision behind it is pointed: a social network built on friendship, community, and human connection, not algorithmic feeds and synthetic content.

From Google Side Project to Global Phenomenon

Orkut debuted in 2004 as a side project Büyükkökten built while working at Google. It became a cultural phenomenon in India and Brazil, where it amassed roughly 300 million active users at its peak. But the platform steadily lost ground to Facebook, and Google shut it down in September 2014 to focus on Google+ and YouTube.

For a generation of users in those markets, Orkut was their first experience of social networking, a fact that helps explain the nostalgia fueled interest in any potential return.

A Direct Critique of Modern Social Media

In a letter published on Orkut.com, Büyükkökten did not mince words about how social media has changed since his platform’s heyday. He singled out the growing influence of algorithms and AI generated content, arguing that the technology meant to connect people is instead eroding the foundation of genuine social networking.

“Artificial intelligence is extraordinary technology, but it’s dissolving the one premise that made social networking special and worth building: that there was a person on the other side.”
Orkut Büyükkökten

His proposed remedy is a return to first principles: “I know how to get there: we rebuild the internet we first loved. The one with authentic people, real connection, and genuine belonging,” he wrote.

Not His First Attempt at a Comeback

This is not Büyükkökten’s first foray back into social networking since Orkut’s shutdown. In 2016, he launched Hello, a platform focused on connecting people through shared interests. It shut down in 2020 after surpassing 2 million downloads worldwide, a modest figure compared to Orkut’s roughly 300 million active users.

In 2022, he hinted on Orkut.com that he was “building something new.” Two years later, he told WIRED he was working on a social network that would “leverage AI and machine learning” to bring people together and build communities. That platform has yet to launch.

What We Still Do Not Know

Despite the renewed call for support, key questions remain unanswered. Büyükkökten has not clarified whether a new version of Orkut is actively in development, or whether it will ever launch at all. An email sent to Orkut seeking comment from Büyükkökten did not receive a response.

For now, the effort appears to be as much a signal of intent and a test of lingering demand as it is a concrete product roadmap.

The Bigger Picture

Büyükkökten’s pitch lands at a moment of widespread fatigue with algorithm driven platforms and growing unease about AI generated content flooding social feeds. Whether or not Orkut actually returns, the response to his call will be an interesting measure of how much appetite still exists for the kind of social network he is describing, one where, as he puts it, there is a real person on the other side.

Conclusion

Orkut’s potential comeback is less about reviving a defunct platform and more about challenging what social media has become. Büyükkökten is betting that users still crave genuine human connection over algorithmic curation, and his call for support is a direct test of that belief. Whether Orkut returns or remains a nostalgic what if, the conversation it sparks matters. It reminds the industry that the most powerful feature a social network can offer has always been the same one: real people, genuinely connected.

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