Duolingo Sees Surge in Chinese Learners After TikTok Ban

TikTok Ban Drives Interest in Chinese Language Learning

U.S. TikTok users are increasingly turning to Duolingo to learn Chinese, coinciding with their exploration of the Chinese social media platform RedNote, in anticipation of a potential TikTok ban.

A U.S. law, slated to take effect on January 19th unless blocked by the Supreme Court, will result in TikTok’s removal from app stores and prevent its operation on devices without a VPN client.

Shift to RedNote and Cultural Exchange

Rather than circumventing the impending ban, over 700 million TikTok users have migrated to RedNote (also known as Xiaohongshu). This transition has sparked an unexpected cultural exchange between citizens of both countries.

Interestingly, this shift has also led to American users assisting their Chinese counterparts with English homework assignments.

Signaling Demand and Data Concerns

Despite some initial technical difficulties and account suspensions for community guideline violations, the move to RedNote aims to demonstrate to the U.S. government and competitors like Meta the demand for the social networking experiences originating from China.

This migration also serves as an indicator of U.S. users’ concerns regarding Chinese companies potentially misusing their personal data – a primary reason for the proposed TikTok ban.

The current trend suggests that these concerns are not universally held.

Duolingo Sees Surge in Mandarin Learners

As RedNote is primarily designed for a Chinese audience, its default language is Mandarin Chinese.

Consequently, there has been a notable increase in U.S. users utilizing Duolingo to quickly acquire Mandarin language skills.

Duolingo reports approximately a 216% increase in new Mandarin learners in the U.S. compared to the previous year.

This growth experienced a significant peak in mid-January, aligning with the increased adoption of RedNote.

TikTok as a Referral Source

Furthermore, Duolingo’s user surveys reveal a corresponding rise in individuals citing “TikTok” as their source of discovering the language-learning app.

The company playfully acknowledged this trend on X (formerly Twitter), posting, “Oh so NOW you’re learning mandarin.”

They also shared a TikTok video promoting their app for Chinese language acquisition, featuring their mascot heading to China, garnering over half a million likes.

A subsequent video, focused on Mandarin phrases for “TikTok refugees,” has exceeded 620,000 likes.