China To Give 1.4. Billion Citizens A “Social Score” Based On Behavior

By Luke Miller

The plan is to penalise those with a low social score, giving them punishments such as travel bans. 

The plan is being slowly rolled out and has already given flying bans to 11 million citizens, with 4 million bans stopping people from travelling on trains.

The government has said they are doing so to “purify society” by punishing those who cannot behave and rewarding those who can. The scheme is similar to the credit score in many western countries but extends to social behaviour such as taxes being paid on time, criminal record and smoking in non-smoking areas. You can raise your score by buying Chinese products, offering community service and other tasks the government deems as good.

Surveillance is on the rise in China with an estimated 176 million cameras and the plan is to have 600 million in place by 2020. These cameras include facial recognition and track peoples behaviour, even publicly shaming jaywalkers on screens at bus stops. This could lead to the integration of social scores and surveillance.  

IMAGE CREDIT: Watchara Karinta