China appeared to have blocked the encrypted messaging app Signal, adding it to the long list of foreign platforms not accessible in the Asian country due to the Great Firewall. According to Washington Post, the platform was often used by dissidents, activists, and journalists.
Signal allows messages to be sent with ‘end-to-end encryption’, which blocks anyone but the sender and receiver from reading the contents. The app has soared in popularity in recent months as fears have grown over data harvesting from large internet companies.
Users of the app in Beijing and other Chinese cities said that they were unable to send messages on the platform from Monday evening and could only access the app while using a virtual private network, which masks one’s location.
The likely block further limits communication options on China’s internet, where the government has built a sophisticated system of censorship and surveillance to control speech.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for…