Beijing’s education crackdown hits Duolingo, Memrise as language-learning apps are pulled from Chinese app stores
- Overseas-based language-learning apps such as Duolingo and Memrise get pulled from some Chinese Android app stores amid the country’s edtech crackdown
- Duolingo, which remains available on Apple’s China App Store, said it is working on the problem
Duolingo, which raised US$521 million from its listing on the Nasdaq last month, said in a statement that the company is working on the issue and that existing users in China can still use the app. “China continues to be a high-potential market for Duolingo and we are proud to provide free quality language courses to our users there,” the company said.
Several other foreign language learning apps, including Memrise and Beelinguapp, are also unavailable. Lernu, a free project for promoting and teaching Esperanto, and Busuu, which connects language learners with native speakers, were also absent from some app stores on Friday.
The takedown of foreign language learning apps was first flagged by local users of the apps on Chinese social media. Not all the removed apps are widely used in China, though, and it is unknown how many users are affected.
“I just downloaded it for a trial. I really can‘t think of any reason for it to be banned”, one Duolingo user posted to the microblogging platform Weibo.
