The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has opened competition supervision proceedings against Duolingo Inc., the U.S.-based company behind one of the world’s most widely used language learning applications. The authority suspects that Duolingo’s commercial practices may be unfair and potentially misleading for Hungarian consumers.
According to the GVH, Duolingo has not ensured that information about the terms of use and the operation of its services is easily accessible to local users or consistently available in Hungarian. The regulator also considers that the company has made unsubstantiated claims of market leadership, such as presenting itself as “the best way to learn a language in the world.” Further concerns arise from promotional messages suggesting that nine out of ten users can speak a language confidently after just one month of use, a statement the GVH believes is likely to mislead consumers.
The authority is also examining whether Duolingo provides adequate notice of the limitations of its free service, including restrictions on the number of daily lessons. In addition, the company is alleged to have put undue psychological pressure on users through frequent and unsolicited direct marketing messages, encouraging them to increase usage or switch to the paid version of the service.
The GVH emphasized that the initiation of proceedings does not imply that the company has committed an infringement. The purpose of the investigation is to establish the facts and determine whether Duolingo’s practices breach competition law. The statutory deadline for the proceedings is three months, though this period may be extended twice by up to two months each in justified cases. Requests for data from the company do not count toward these deadlines.
Duolingo, whose green owl mascot “Duo” has become a global symbol of digital language learning, is used by around 380,000 people daily in Hungary. The case has been registered under file number VJ/34/2025.
