A securities class action has been filed against Duolingo, Inc. (DUOL) on behalf of purchasers of Duolingo common stock between May 2, 2025 through February 26, 2026. This case has been filed in the USDC – WDPA.
The complaint alleges that defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose, among other things, that: (i) Daily Active User (“DAU”) growth rates were being leveraged against deliberately added user friction in the form of significant increases in ad volume, subscription tier upsells, and worsened product quality, and defendants understood that any amount of user friction would cause users to leave the app and, ultimately, negatively impact DAU growth rates; (ii) Duolingo’s rigorous A/B testing demonstrated to defendants that increased friction in the free user experience was having negative impacts on DAU growth rates; (iii) Duolingo’s quickly generated AI content was worsening the quality of Duolingo’s product offerings, negatively impacting the user experience and user trends, and threatening the sustainability of Duolingo’s financial performance; and (iv) far from driving sustained growth and strong user momentum through content and “product improvements” that “get improved retention,” Duolingo’s constant A/B testing informed Duolingo that its monetization push and lower-quality, rapidly generated AI content were degrading the Duolingo product experience and the value proposition of its subscription tiers.
On November 5, 2025, Duolingo reported its third quarter financial results, revealing another sequential decline in DAU growth to 36%, a substantial drop from 49% in first quarter 2025 and 40% during second quarter 2025. Defendants also revealed a reversal of Duolingo’s monetization push and stated that going forward, Duolingo would prioritize user growth over monetization and that Duolingo needed to invest more in “teaching better across all our subjects.” On this news, the price of Duolingo stock fell 25%.
Then, on January 12, 2026, Duolingo announced that its Chief Financial Officer, defendant Matthew Skaruppa, had resigned. Duolingo also provided limited, preliminary fourth quarter 2025 operating metrics, revealing DAU growth of only 30% – nearly six points of additional deceleration from third quarter 2025. In response, Duolingo stock fell another 8.5%.
Finally, on February 26, 2026, Duolingo announced its fourth quarter 2025 financial results, confirmed the slowdown in DAU growth, and revealed the financial consequences of its strategy shift were neither “small” nor “little”; rather, they would result in material negative impacts on 2026 bookings, DAU growth rates, revenue, and adjusted EBITDA. On this news, the price of Duolingo stock fell an additional 14%.