Duolingo deletes all its TikTok videos after AI backlash—and then returns with a strange message

In any language, silence sounds just about the same. It carries a thunderous kick, though, when it comes from Duolingo, the world’s most popular language-learning app, and its famously irreverent social media presence. Facing heavy backlash online after unveiling its new AI-first policy, Duolingo went dark over the weekend on the social media channels where it cultivated an enormous following with quirky posts. The company even took down all of its posts on TikTok and Instagram, where it has 6.7 million and 4.1 million followers, respectively, after both accounts were flooded with negative feedback. After days of silence, on Tuesday the company posted a bizarre video message on TikTok and Instagram, the meaning of which is hard to decipher. Duolingo had been riding high before CEO Luis von Ahn announced on LinkedIn that the company is phasing out human contractors, looking for AI use in hiring and in performance reviews, and that “headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work.” The company ended 2024 with $748 million in revenue, up 41% year over year, and it had more than 116 million monthly active users and 9.5 million paying subscribers as of March. The previous month, the company had executed its most successful social media campaign ever, with the death (by Cybertruck) of the brand’s mascot, Duo the owl, and his eventual resurrection two weeks later. Duolingo has had such a tremendous year—with its stock near an all-time high, closing at $526 per share on Tuesday—that it recently raised its sales forecast for 2025. But that was before the backlash. Duolingo previously faced criticism for quietly laying off 10% of its contractor base and introducing some AI features in late 2023, but it barely went beyond a semi-viral post on Reddit. Now that Duolingo is cutting out all its human contractors whose work can technically be done by AI, and relying on more AI-generated language lessons, the response is far more pronounced. Although earlier TikTok videos are not currently visible, a Fast Company article from May 12 captured a flavor of the reaction: “The top comments on virtually every recent post have nothing to do with the video or the company—and everything to do with the company’s embrace of AI. For example, a Duolingo TikTok video jumping on board the “Mama, may I have a cookie” trend saw replies like ‘Mama, may I have real people running the company

May 21, 2025 - 02:40

Duolingo deletes all its TikTok videos after AI backlash—and then returns with a strange message

In any language, silence sounds just about the same. It carries a thunderous kick, though, when it comes from Duolingo, the world’s most popular language-learning app, and its famously irreverent social media presence.

Facing heavy backlash online after unveiling its new AI-first policy, Duolingo went dark over the weekend on the social media channels where it cultivated an enormous following with quirky posts. The company even took down all of its posts on TikTok and Instagram, where it has 6.7 million and 4.1 million followers, respectively, after both accounts were flooded with negative feedback. After days of silence, on Tuesday the company posted a bizarre video message on TikTok and Instagram, the meaning of which is hard to decipher.

Duolingo had been riding high before CEO Luis von Ahn announced on LinkedIn that the company is phasing out human contractors, looking for AI use in hiring and in performance reviews, and that “headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work.” The company ended 2024 with $748 million in revenue, up 41% year over year, and it had more than 116 million monthly active users and 9.5 million paying subscribers as of March. The previous month, the company had executed its most successful social media campaign ever, with the death (by Cybertruck) of the brand’s mascot, Duo the owl, and his eventual resurrection two weeks later. Duolingo has had such a tremendous year—with its stock near an all-time high, closing at $526 per share on Tuesday—that it recently raised its sales forecast for 2025. But that was before the backlash.

Duolingo previously faced criticism for quietly laying off 10% of its contractor base and introducing some AI features in late 2023, but it barely went beyond a semi-viral post on Reddit. Now that Duolingo is cutting out all its human contractors whose work can technically be done by AI, and relying on more AI-generated language lessons, the response is far more pronounced. Although earlier TikTok videos are not currently visible, a Fast Company article from May 12 captured a flavor of the reaction:

“The top comments on virtually every recent post have nothing to do with the video or the company—and everything to do with the company’s embrace of AI. For example, a Duolingo TikTok video jumping on board the “Mama, may I have a cookie” trend saw replies like ‘Mama, may I have real people running the company