Duolingo apologised and removed a German-course chat prompt that included a response calling JK Rowling "mean." The chat prompt asked in German whether the user liked books with Harry Potter as a character and presented the response that the author was mean. A user posted on X/Twitter complaining that trans ideology had infected a language lesson. A Duolingo spokesperson said the company apologised for any offence caused and would remove the content. Duolingo courses progress from simple to complex prompts, and a French course section asks users to write prompts about democratic society fundamentals. JK Rowling has expressed gender-critical views since 2019 and continued to speak about trans issues.
During chat questions, users are prompted with a conversation opener and must pick the correct response. A screenshot of the prompt shows a person asking: " Magst du die Bücher mit Harry Potter als Figur? " which roughly translates to: "Do you like books with Harry Potter as a character?" The correct response translates to: "Yes, but in my opinion, the author is mean."
The Duolingo user shared her outrage in a post on X/Twitter, writing: "How woke do you have to be to let trans ideology infect a language lesson?" In response, a Duolingo spokesperson wrote: "We apologise for any offence caused and will remove this content from the app." A typical Duolingo language course consists of several sections, which comprise quizzes grouped into units that users must complete before progressing.
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