Duolingo, the app known for its edgy social media marketing and gamified learning streaks, has left users puzzled over the last few days. After the app went completely dark on social media on Saturday, May 17, and left behind nothing but a series of cryptic bios, the internet is scrambling to figure out what is going on at the company.
Over the weekend, the app took down its content and went radio silent on its various accounts, with only a few bio updates and only a few cryptic comments on other posts for fans to go off of. Most notably, every TikTok and picture on Instagram account has been removed while the app changed its bio to say “real eyes realize real lies 👁️👁️👁️.” Its X account posted the same thing on Friday. Also, the account’s social media bios were changed to say “r/im14andthisisdeep 👁️👁️👁️” over the weekend, followed by “gonefornow123” with dead roses on Monday. Since then, users have found the “im14andthisisdeep” subreddit the app was referencing in its earlier bio, which is a popular forum used to poke fun at social media content deemed cringy or attempting to be deep. Since piecing together the strange messaging, people are scrambling to comment sections on social media to piece together whether hackers broke into Duolingo, if there’s a big marketing ploy at play, or something else.
The timing of this odd social media behavior is worth noting, considering the company has found itself in hot water recently. In April, Duolingo announced it would be going “AI-first,” according to an email from CEO Luis von Ahn that was posted to the company’s LinkedIn account. The email goes on to say that Duolingo will be gradually replacing contract workers with AI and that artificial intelligence will “fundamentally change” how certain functions work. The company immediately faced a wave of backlash from users. Before Duolingo removed its content, every new video’s top comments were flooded with critiques on its new AI policy. Videos have appeared all over TikTok calling for loyal Duolingo users to end their streaks with the app.
Another potential clue that the social blackout has something to do with the AI announcement is that after Duolingo went dark, an account called @duolingo.is.back was created, and the user has started to periodically post videos poking fun at the app’s new AI policy. The first depicts Duo, the human-sized green owl that serves as the app’s mascot, tied to a chair being attacked by an AI robot. The second shows Duo being taken apart to reveal that he was AI all along. People in the comments are debating whether this account is a troll, especially considering the heat Duolingo has gotten this past month, or if the language-learning app is taking its riskiest marketing tactic to date and is actually behind this whole thing. Whoever is posting these, they’re certainly creating buzz around Duolingo, as the two aforementioned videos have reached 3.4 million and 1.8 million views, respectively, as of Monday morning.
All in all, the strange behavior has left the internet talking about what could be the underlying cause. Some people think that Duolingo going dark is just a way for the company to garner more attention after Gen Z turned their backs on the app. Others wonder if this is a sign of an actual policy change within the company. Regardless, people are buzzing about what the next steps could be for Duo and the rest of the team.