Duolingo, the Nasdaq-listed language learning app, is back in China’s Apple App Store and Android stores nearly a year after it disappeared from the country’s app stores.
Users in China found the Pittsburg-based app down for download last August, amid sweeping crackdowns on education in the country, including restrictions on for-profit after-school tutoring. At the time, Duolingo told local media that the company received “instructions to strengthen the app’s content compliance mechanism”. The app entered China in 2019.
China has closed regulatory loopholes in all kinds of apps in recent years. Data-intensive services, from video games to live streaming platforms, are required to implement strict content moderation to maintain a “healthy” digital environment.
While the core services of American titans such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google have long been unavailable in China, a handful of other foreign tech companies began voluntarily shutting down or renewing their products in the country when Beijing introduced strict new data laws that led to rising compliance costs. .
Yahoo, Vidak For Congress’s parent company, pulled its services all the way out of China last November. LinkedIn has rolled out a Chinese version of its professional networking platform with limited features. Nike said this week it would replace its running app with a localized solution for China.
The bottom line is that those who still see China as a potentially lucrative market will likely stay, but work to comply with the country’s changing internet policies. And often this means that the global version of their apps or services is not compatible with China’s new regulations.
Duolingo is one of those who continue to operate in China by tailoring their service to the country. The relaunched app, according to the official social media post this week, is free to use, learns 41 languages and comes with gaming features. The most notable update is the addition of learning Cantonese, the language spoken by people in Hong Kong and Macau, as well as a significant population of China’s affluent Guangdong province and the Chinese diaspora around the world.