Americans have turned to the language-learning app Duolingo to study Mandarin and the Chinese social app RedNote as a potential alternative to TikTok, which recently faced a temporary ban in the U.S.

When TikTok went off the air (to use a very old-fashioned phrase), there was a scramble to find an alternative to its shortform video feed — and a similar scramble by various social networks to provide that alternative. (In fact, while I was writing this, Tumblr launched its new Tumblr TV feature.) The question is: how successful are they?

The looming threat of a TikTok ban has caused many social media stocks to surge as they are perceived benefactors that would presumably gain TikTok users who get locked out of the platform. While TikTok continues to ride the wave of uncertainty even with a 75-day extension granted by President Donald Trump,

Duolingo has seen a surge in U.S. Mandarin learners as TikTok users explore Chinese social app RedNote amid a looming ban.

Millions are joining RedNote ahead of the TikTok ban. But the app’s default language is Mandarin. “Oh so NOW you’re learning Mandarin,” Duolingo tweeted on Monday.

Language learning app Duolingo has seen an over 200% spike in U.S. users learning Mandarin "out of spite" as many flee to Chinese app RedNote amid the uncertainty surrounding TikTok's future. On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld the decision to ban TikTok ...

Duolingo shares have jumped this week, as the number of Americans learning Mandarin on the app has soared 216%. That's as China's RedNote is now the most downloaded free app on Apple's App Store ahead of the TikTok ban.

"First of all, the Chinese are so nice, they're so sweet and so welcoming. They've over here teaching us Mandarin."

Whatever US politicians were hoping for, what they got was a huge increase in users signing up to Duolingo to learn Chinese and American users flooding Chinese apps.

The language-learning app Duolingo has seen a surprising trend emerge, the closer we get to the TikTok ban -- there's been a 216% spike in US users learning Mandarin compared to this time last year.

Popular TikTok accounts such as DuoLingo shared trade secrets before the app went dark in the US, while creators confessed to long-running inside jokes.

Yes, the language-learning app has been the big winner amid TikTok’s impending demise and it’s mostly due to spite. According to the app, Duolingo has seen a 216 percent growth in users learning Mandarin Chinese over the last year, which is tied to the growing popularity of RedNote.