As the TikTok ban looms in the United States, an unexpected cultural phenomenon is emerging: Americans are flocking to learn Mandarin Chinese on Duolingo as they migrate to RedNote, a Chinese social media platform.
The language learning app reported a dramatic 216% increase in new U.S. users studying Mandarin compared to last year, with a notable surge in mid-January. This coincides with the mass exodus of TikTok users to RedNote (also known as Xiaohongshu), a Shanghai-based social platform.
The impending TikTok ban, set to take effect on January 19 unless blocked by the Supreme Court, has prompted over 700 million users to seek alternatives. Rather than fighting the ban or switching to American-made platforms, users are embracing RedNote, despite its primary interface being in Mandarin Chinese.
Duolingo has cleverly capitalized on this trend, creating viral content about the situation. Their TikTok video featuring their mascot heading to China has garnered over half a million likes, while another clip teaching Mandarin phrases to "TikTok refugees" has exceeded 620,000 likes.
The app's popularity surge is reflected in its market performance, climbing to No. 22 in Top Overall apps and No. 20 in Top Apps rankings. App intelligence provider Appfigures reported a 36% increase in Duolingo's U.S. downloads across both App Store and Google Play platforms.
This unexpected development suggests that many U.S. users remain undeterred by concerns about Chinese-owned apps collecting personal data - one of the primary reasons cited for the TikTok ban. Instead, they're embracing the opportunity to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap between the two nations.