China has ordered Apple to remove some of the world's most popular messaging apps from the App Store in the country. WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, Telegram, and Line have now been removed from the store. Apple said it was told to remove the apps due to national security concerns. The messaging apps were only accessible in China through virtual private networks, but they were still commonly used. China's increasing censorship will likely result in more apps being removed from app stores over the coming months.