Jan 16, 2025 14:00:00

TikTok ban leads to 216% increase in Duolingo users learning Chinese compared to the same period last year

In the United States, the '

TikTok Ban Act ' was passed in April 2024, ordering TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell TikTok. If TikTok is not sold by January 19, 2025, the app will become unavailable. With the deadline fast approaching, many American users are switching to another Chinese app called ' Little Red Note ,' and it has been reported that the number of users learning Chinese on the language app Duolingo has increased by 216% compared to the same period last year.

Duolingo sees 216% spike in US users learning Chinese amid TikTok ban and move to RedNote | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/15/duolingo-sees-216-spike-in-us-users-learning-chinese-amid-tiktok-ban-and-move-to-rednote/

When the TikTok ban comes into effect on January 19, 2025, users will no longer be able to download new apps or receive updates from app stores, and the app will eventually become unavailable.

What will happen when TikTok's deadline 'January 19, 2025' arrives? - GIGAZINE

With the enforcement of the TikTok ban looming, some American TikTok users are moving to other social media apps, one of which is RedNote. RedNote features the same vertical short video posting function as TikTok. According to the foreign media BBC, RedNote is popular mainly among young female users living in urban areas of China, with approximately 300 million monthly users .

It has also been reported that as of January 14, 2025, RedNote was ranked number one in the free app category in the US App Store rankings.

Just so the journalists, journalists, politicians, and olds know what's happening on TikTok, users in a revolt are migrating to RedNote, a Chinese based social media app. It would behoove you to maybe pay attention since your lack of attention/care has led us here. #tiktok pic.twitter.com/bu1j4IlMjW
— Causey (@CauseyCan) January 13, 2025

However, at the time of writing, RedNote's default language is set to Mandarin . Therefore, it seems that many American users have started learning Chinese on Duolingo in order to use RedNote. Duolingo reports that the number of new Chinese learners in the United States has increased by about 216% compared to the same period last year.

Learning Mandarin out of spite? You're not alone.

We've seen a ~216% growth in new Chinese (Mandarin) learners in the US compared to this time last year. https://t.co/9hzwBxfTgD pic.twitter.com/qWM9f5oFYA
— Duolingo (@duolingo) January 15, 2025

Duolingo also provides Chinese translations of English phrases that users may use frequently as “phrases to remember” on TikTok to help them transition to RedNote.

Duolingo also provides tips for learning Chinese on its blog.