It's a genre of electronic music just like any other. Some genres are melodic and suitable for home listening, some are much more club-oriented. Some have a "glamorous" reputation (i.e. electro house in the 00s) and some have a more underground, militant subculture around them (many hard dance genres).

There are many donk-like subgenres and they have been around for a long time. UK hard house has a long history, Spain has its makina, etc etc - all of them are local variations but they are closely related. Specifically the local Russian "hardbass" was somewhat popular in the 90s and early 00s to the point of being infamously known in the mainstream as "that music from drug clubs", but that was a brief flash of mainstream awareness. Just like "dubstep" was a fad in the mainstream circa 2010 (everywhere in the world), but that was just the most mainstream variation of it and just the tip of the iceberg, the dubstep scene had existed for a long time and still does.

These days (in the late 2010s), there has been a little bit of "ironic" resurgence of hardbass, just enough to get on the radar, but this has WAY more to do with the emulation of the 90s vibe being in vogue among the hipster youth, than with actual tastes of the general public. The underground culture was always alive and still is. The people who listen to these memetic / ironic modern takes on the donk sound aren't actually belonging to that scene. If anything, modern kids (think 20 y.o. and under) mostly favor various rap.