As the Supreme Court has not yet overturned the impending TikTok ban in the U.S. that is set to take effect on January 19, American social media users have shifted in a remarkable way. Rather than using VPNs to get around the ban, many of TikTok’s 700 million U.S. users have moved to the Chinese social app RedNote (known in China as Xiaohongshu), sparking a cultural exchange and a spike in Mandarin learners on Duolingo.
Shanghai based RedNote is a platform aimed at Chinese users, and operates mostly in Mandarin, which is a barrier to U.S. adopters. This means that the U.S. has seen a 216 percent increase in Mandarin learners on Duolingo, the popular language learning app, compared to the same time last year. The surge is in line with RedNote’s growing adoption, especially in mid-January. The user survey also showed a significant increase in people who said they first came to the app through TikTok.
And Duolingo has embraced the trend with humor and engagement. The company posted on X on January 14, writing, “Oh so NOW you’re learning Mandarin” alongside a TikTok video of its owl mascot jokingly “moving to China.” Another video teaching Mandarin phrases for ‘TikTok refugees’ got over 620,000 likes, and the video itself had over half a million likes.
It is part of a broader trend in social media and geopolitics. RedNote is similar to TikTok, but its adoption shows U.S. users’ willingness to use Chinese apps despite privacy concerns. This migration also highlights the need for real social networking experiences that U.S. companies like Meta have been unable to replicate.
Early January saw a 36 percent increase in U.S. downloads for Duolingo. As of this week, the app climbed the rankings to No. 20 in Top Apps and No. 22 in Top Overall, indicating its growing role in closing cultural and linguistic gaps.
