Orkut was a social networking service owned and operated by Google. The service was designed to help users meet new and old friends and maintain existing relationships. The website was named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten.[1]
Orkut was one of the most visited websites in India and Brazil in 2008.[2][3][4] In that year, Google announced Orkut would be fully managed and operated in Brazil, by Google Brazil, in the city of Belo Horizonte. This was decided due to the large Brazilian user base and growth of legal issues.[5][6][7][8]
On June 30, 2014, Google announced it would be closing Orkut on September 30, 2014.[9] No new accounts could be created starting from July 2014. Users could download their profile archive by Google Takeout.[10][failed verification]
^Pereira, Fabiano (April 22, 2008). "Os sites mais acessados do Brasil" [The most popular sites in Brazil]. iMasters (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2017.