The Signal encrypted chat App is one of the few foreign social platforms that has not been blocked in China so far, but since Tuesday (March 15) the app has been inaccessible in the country.
The AFP report cited Greatfire.org, a website that tracks online censorship in China, as saying that the Signal app has been unavailable in China since at least March 15, but has not yet been taken down from China’s Apple App store.
Signal has not responded to AFP’s queries on the matter.
Launched in 2014, Signal is considered by experts to be one of the most secure messaging apps on the market due to its encrypted “end-to-end” audio and video messaging or calling capabilities, the report said. According to research firm Sensor Tower, the app now has nearly 510,000 installations on Apple phones or tablets in China. Globally, Signal’s cumulative downloads on the AppStore and Google Play have passed the 100 million milestone mark.
Signal, once a very niche application, has recently exploded in popularity for a number of reasons. In January this year Signal’s rival WhatsApp warned that it would share more data with its parent company Facebook and angered users and damaged its reputation, forcing WhatsApp to delay its new terms of use announcement by three months. It was also boosted by a tweet from tesla boss Elon Musk saying “use Signal. Signal is currently the most downloaded app in several countries, including India, France and Germany.
With this, Signal joins a long list of foreign apps that have been blocked by China’s network.
AFP reports that Beijing just last month banned the once-popular voice chat app Clubhouse, which was developed by U.S.-based Alpha Quest and allows users to engage in invitation-only, real-Time conversations.
China has an extensive Internet surveillance system that removes any content deemed sensitive, such as political criticism or pornography, the report said. In order to maintain stability, China requires Internet giants to set up internal censorship, which is responsible for censoring networks upstream of information, and most foreign search engines or social networks are banned in China for failing to comply with these rules, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and others, which can only be used in China through “wall” tools ( VPN) to use in China.
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