Duolingo to donate ad revenue earned from those learning Ukrainian to support relief efforts

PITTSBURGH — Duolingo Inc. CEO and co-founder Luis von Ahn announced that the company will donate all ad revenue earned from those learning the Ukrainian language on its platform for at least the next year to support relief efforts in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion of its territory. The Pittsburgh company will also match any donations toward related relief efforts made by its employees and it will suspend all monetization efforts in Russia and Belarus to ensure it is not paying taxes to those respective governments.

The decision to do so also comes following a 485% spike globally of users learning the Ukrainian language on Duolingo’s (NASDAQ: DUOL) language learning platform, von Ahn said in a letter on the company’s blog. While most of these new Ukrainian language learners are based in the U.S., where East Liberty-based Duolingo also appreciates its largest overall user base, von Ahn said that those learning Ukrainian in Poland jumped 1,800%, which he suspected is due to those in Poland who are looking to welcome and host refugees from neighboring Ukraine.

“While it’s wonderful to see that show of support and appreciation for Ukraine’s culture, it would not be right for us to profit from it,” von Ahn said. “We will be donating all of the ad revenue from people studying Ukrainian on Duolingo to Ukraine relief.”