Duolingo has witnessed a massive spike of users in the U.S. learning Mandarin as fearful TikTok users move to the Chinese social media app ReNote ahead of the potential ban.
The language learning app reports that it saw a 216% spike in use compared to this time last year.
Duolingo shares jumped 9.9% in morning trading.
The figure skyrocketed around mid-January as self-described "TikTok refugees" flocked to RedNote/Xiaohongshu, which default language is Mandarin Chinese.
Xiaohongshu, which translates to “Little Red Book,” is a Chinese social media app that similar to TikTok offers e-commerce, short video and posting functions.
Duolingo wrote on X on Wednesday, "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."
Attached to the post was a graph showing the spike in usage aligning with the looming TikTok ban or sale.
Duolingo also posted a TikTok video promoting its app to learn Chinese, which boasts more than half a million likes.
The #tiktokrefugee topic on TikTok has garnered more than 160,000 posts about the app, which Americans are calling"RedNote."
The TikTok ban will take effect on Sunday, Jan. 19, unless the U.S. Supreme Court halts the ruling.