Signal: China appears to have blocked encrypted messaging app

Move to silence the app comes as China expands controls to shape public opinion and limit private discourse

The encrypted messaging app Signal appears to have been blocked in mainland China, the latest foreign social media service to cease working in a country where the government tightly controls the flow of information.

As of Tuesday, users of the app within China had to connect to a virtual private network (VPN) that allows them to circumvent China's so-called Great Firewall, a censorship system that blocks websites, services and apps deemed inappropriate by the Chinese government.