linguist but idk shit about languages

This may be petty but using flags for languages is already problematic at best but mixing words and flags is just confusing. why is Arabic written? Is it because it's officially spoken in multiple countries? So are Mandarin and Korean. Be consistent.

What is your source? What are you basing this on? Why is Mandarin on 1 but other Sinitic languages aren't in the Top 10? What makes Hungarian more difficult than Finnish by two places despite being in the same language family? What exactly makes Polish more difficult than other Slavic languages?

Out of thousands of languages spoken on all continents (except Antarctica I guess) why are the Top 10 European, Asian and then one Native American language? Why is it conveniently languages that an English speaker vaguely interested in language learning would have heard about? Couldn't one of the Top 10 hardest to learn languages be Igala or Coast Tsimshian or Motu (examples randomly chosen)?

Have you ever noticed how these lists are always anglocentric as hell? Most specify "for English speakers" and are at least open about it but I've also seen people just say "hardest to learn" and it's like what if you already speak one of these languages lol

Have you also ever noticed that a lot of the languages popping up on these lists (which vary from source to source) are languages frequently spoken by immigrant populations in anglophone countries? And native English speakers expect them to learn perfect English... Wouldn't you think that if Arabic or Chinese or whatever they put on the list next time is one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn that it goes both ways? But they're expected to learn it either for immigration reasons or anyway because it's the lingua franca. But if an English speaker (or anyone speaking another widely spoken European language) learns it they're some amazing genius who bravely mastered the world's most difficult language (which is also where my distaste for that one YouTuber comes in, you know the one).

This also absolutely ignores personal preferences in language learning. The languages on the "easiest" to learn lists are commonly Germanic and some Romance languages because of similarities in grammar and vocabulary to English but those similarities can absolutely trip you up. Good luck memorizing all the words and structures that are different and falling for false friends. Maybe you hate conjugation and would rather learn a language that doesn't deal with that. Maybe you have a secret talent for a different writing system. Maybe you really vibe with cases and they're no problem for you. Maybe you have a lot of passion and motivation for a language very different from English and zero interest in one of the "easy" ones and learning one of those would be an absolute chore for you.