Internet
Messenger ICQ closes after more than 27 years
Over the years, ICQ has been overtaken by other messaging services. Photo
© Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez/dpa
An Internet dinosaur disappears: ICQ is over. The service was launched in 1996 by the Israeli company Mirabilis.
One of the oldest chat services is soon to be shutting down after more than 27 years. The ICQ messenger will no longer work from June 26, the operators announced on the service’s website.
ICQ was launched in 1996 by the Israeli company Mirabilis. The name alludes to the phrase “I seek you”. The online pioneer AOL bought the service in 1998 during the first Internet boom for several hundred million dollars.
In the following years, ICQ was overtaken by other messaging services. In 2010, the service was taken over by a Russian company, which now also operates the local Facebook clone VK. The website recommends the chat service VK Messenger as an alternative.