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Duolingo sent a letter to Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor, the watchdog confirmed in a statement, saying it had “removed all materials promoting non-traditional sexual relationships”, Russia state-cobtrolled Tass reported.
The decision came after Roskomnadzor confirmed it would check Duolingo for “LGBT propaganda” in February after a request from Radetel, a self-described “traditional values” advocacy group that found “same-sex dialogue” in the app’s lessons.
Following Radetel’s request, the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, threatened to block Duolingo in Russia, adding that Duolingo should “immediately deal with this unpleasant problem”.
Duolingo’s removal of LGBT content is only the latest example of Russia’s continued censorship of the LGBT community, prompted by legislation providing for fines of up to 4 million rubles for disseminating so-called “LGBT propaganda”.
In November 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that the “international LGBT movement” qualified as an “extremist organisation”, effectively banning it and making pro-LGBT activity punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
I'm going to say first off that this is kind of depressing. That said, after my initial knee-jerk reaction of "fuck you, Duolingo," it occurs to me that is might be a better outcome than them pulling out of Russia altogether.
Providing Russian citizens easy access to language learning provides them access to non-Russian media and non-Russian discourse on queer issues.
In my own experience, learning a language as an adult has taken place in ~3 stages: 1. learn from instructional material exclusively, 2. consume foreign language material with native-language support/tools, 3. learn more of the language via context. If having an app available to folks in an oppressive country helps them get through stage 1 and into 2/3, it gives them a chance to escape the hateful discourse of the regime... In theory.
On the other hand, maybe it's just capitalists being capitalists.
If you are found to distribute "LGBT propaganda” by a Russian court, you can end up in prison for 15 years.
I like this take. If anything, languages knowledge helps with dialogue, not only thanks to speaking the language. Seeing how language and history interacts between peoples gives a better understanding of the complex modern contexts.