Head of Duolingo backs Kamala Harris

Duolingo founder and chief executive Luis von Ahn publicly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, writing on X that the Democratic nominee is “the better option for the U.S. economy.”

The billionaire tech leader noted that he’s grown two companies in Pittsburgh — reCAPTCHA, which was acquired by Google in 2009, and Duolingo, the language learning app with over 100 million monthly users.

His post drew mixed reactions online, including some derision from investors. It came two days after Duolingo hosted billionaire Mark Cuban for a Harris campaign event at the tech company’s East Liberty headquarters.

Other prominent tech leaders, including Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, have thrown their support behind former President Donald Trump. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this summer he was staying out of the election, although he was impressed by Trump’s bravery after the Republican nominee was shot at a July rally in Butler.

Mr. von Ahn has weighed into politics before. In 2022, he threatened to grow Duolingo outside Pennsylvania if the state banned abortions, arguing the prohibition would make it difficult to attract talent.

More recently, he posted on X, “He’s a felon people,” in an apparent reference to Trump.

One critical investor said that Mr. von Ahn should focus on building his company rather than “turning off a chunk of potential users” by supporting one candidate. Others threatened to cancel their accounts.

Mr. von Ahn, whose net worth Forbes puts at $1.1 billion, declined to comment to the Post-Gazette.

Duolingo, which recently expanded to teach math and music, in addition to teaching more than 40 languages, is growing its offices in Pittsburgh and New York City.

Some venture capitalists in Pittsburgh, including Evan Segal and Sean Sebastian, signed onto a “VCs for Kamala” letter earlier this summer after President Joe Biden exited the race.

Two prominent newsrooms, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, made the rare decision not to endorse a presidential candidate this year, with the Post reporting last week that its decision was made by the paper’s owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.