Overview

• The German exercise followed a prompt about liking Harry Potter books and accepted the response, “Yes, but in my opinion the author is mean,” as correct.
• Journalist Gaby Koppel highlighted the item on X and criticized the lesson for introducing political ideology into language learning.
• Duolingo responded publicly with an apology and said it would take down the specific content.
• The Independent reported the apology, which was subsequently covered by German outlets including DER SPIEGEL and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
• FAZ noted Duolingo’s claim of more than 130 million daily users, underscoring the potential reach as coverage referenced Rowling’s ongoing trans-rights controversy and past distancing by Daniel Radcliffe.