Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Duolingo operates a mobile learning platform

and does not offer lending, insurance, money movement, or deposit services to consumers. Therefore, all KPIs related to financial services, such as underserved client share, pricing fairness (APRs), exploitative fee exposure, inclusion initiatives (loan/insurance book), data accessibility (open-banking APIs), fair lending compliance, wealth building outcomes (credit scores, savings), profit reinvestment in community finance, debt burden ratio, and geographic inclusion (banking deserts), are not applicable to its core business model. While the company's mission aims to empower individuals with skills to improve economic opportunities and it offers a free version of its platform, these activities do not fall under the scope of financial services as defined by the value. The mention of a university counselor advising refugees on the financial aid process is too narrow to constitute a financial literacy initiative as defined by the rubric.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

In fiscal year 2024, Duolingo reported a CEO to median employee pay ratio of 3:1, with the CEO earning $767,250 and the median employee earning $261,765.

Employee engagement surveys show an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, with 87% CEO approval and 73% of employees recommending the company to a friend. A majority of Duolingo's workforce consists of contractors who do not receive benefits such as insurance, paid time off, or sick leave. In January 2024, 10% of these contractors were laid off, with the company planning to gradually reduce its reliance on contractors due to AI integration. Duolingo had 600 full-time employees in 2022 and states it has never laid off full-time employees.

Honest & Fair Business

Duolingo has a Code of Ethics and Conduct and an Anti-Bribery/Anti-Corruption (ABAC) Policy, dated March 13, 2024.

These policies include provisions for prompt internal reporting of violations, protection for those reporting questionable behavior, and a non-retaliation policy for good faith reports, which can be made anonymously via email or a telephonic hotline. The General Counsel and Compliance Officer are responsible for investigating allegations. The ABAC Policy applies to all worldwide directors, officers, managers, and employees of Duolingo and its subsidiaries. Waivers of the Code for directors, executive officers, or principal financial officers may only be made by the disinterested members of the Board. The ABAC Policy prohibits outbound and inbound bribery, attempted bribery, facilitating payments, and third-party bribes. It requires risk-based due diligence on business partners with government interaction and mandates written agreements with ABAC compliance provisions. All relevant employees and representatives are required to certify their compliance with the ABAC Policy and other Compliance Materials, with certifications retained for at least five years. Hungary's competition authority launched an investigation into Duolingo in September 2025 concerning potentially misleading claims and the use of psychological pressure on users, but no fines or warning letters have been issued.

Kind to Animals

Duolingo operates a mobile learning platform, which is a service-oriented business. The provided articles focus on its social impact initiatives, such as local community investment and scholarship funds, but do not contain any information related to animal welfare practices, policies, or metrics.

As a digital service provider, Duolingo does not have physical products requiring cruelty-free certification, engage in animal testing, manage animal-related operations, source animal-derived ingredients, or have a business model that directly impacts wildlife habitats or animal agriculture. Therefore, all KPIs related to 'Kind to Animals' are scored as N/A, indicating that they are not applicable to the company's operations.

No War, No Weapons

Duolingo reported $0 in revenue from arms or defense contracts.

The company also reported $0 in lobbying expenditures for both 2023 and 2024.

Planet-Friendly Business

Duolingo does not have a validated science-based carbon reduction target.

Multiple articles state that no regulatory actions, violations, fines, or compliance issues have been mentioned for the company.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

Duolingo has no reported cultural appropriation incidents.

The company offers over 100 courses across 40 languages, including two endangered languages, Navajo and Hawaiian, which were launched in celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day. This demonstrates strong local language support, aligning with a language inclusivity score of 70-80/100.

Safe & Smart Tech

In August 2023, a data breach exposed the personal information of 2.6 million Duolingo users, including names, email addresses, usernames, phone numbers, social network info, language study details, and progress.

This was due to a vulnerability in a poorly secured API that allowed data scraping. The company stated that no data breach or hack occurred. The API vulnerability was characterized by a lack of encryption and insufficient validation logic. User data was scraped and made available for sale on a hacking forum. Duolingo has since implemented rate limits on the API endpoint to prevent further abuse but has not provided a tool for users to check if their data was compromised. The company claims compliance with privacy regulations in the US and EU, but the API vulnerability implies a lack of compliance with security best practices. Duolingo does not have a formal vulnerability disclosure or bug bounty program. For AI ethics, Duolingo has four principles: Validity and Reliability, Fairness, Privacy and Security, and Accountability and Transparency. They use a six-step process for generative AI content creation for their English Test, involving human subject matter experts at each step to ensure validity, reliability, and fairness.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Duolingo has implemented two waste reduction initiatives at its Pittsburgh headquarters: a recycling program that includes composting, and a program to donate extra food to local nonprofits.

The company has not incurred any waste disposal violations in the past three years.