China’s ‘social credit’ system bans millions from travelling
IT SOUNDS like the plotline from a television drama set in a dystopian future, but China’s “social credit” system has led to more than 12 million people being given domestic travel bans as punishment for bad behaviour.
Nine million Chinese have been banned from buying domestic flights, and three million more from buying business class tickets in early trials of the scheme, under which citizens are rated on their compliance with social norms and rules.
Behaviour that triggered the bans varied from obstructing footpaths with electric bikes to failing to pay fines.
Zhang Yong, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said the trials were taking place across China’s provinces over the next two years.
The social credit system is based on the government’s phrase “once untrustworthy, always restricted”, and is set to be tested further on the country’s train system from May 1. From that date, violating a new set of transport-
‘The system is based on the government’s phrase – once untrustworthy, always restricted’
related offences listed by the NDRC and China’s Supreme Court could result in travel bans.
Smoking cigarettes in no smoking areas, riding a train without a correct ticket, and selling counterfeit tickets were among the offences listed that could result in 180-day bans from buying train tickets.
Mr Zhang said that the NDRC would “increase the intensity of joint rewards and punishments so that dishonest people will be punished and the faithful will be motivated”. Those punished will also be shamed online by having their names listed on a train ticket booking website for one week.
Human rights groups are concerned that as the system becomes fully implemented by around 2020, it may widen its use of citizens’ social media behaviour to rate them, including using information about political allegiances.
The government has already worked closely with retail giant Alibaba to develop Sesame Credit, a credit score system that judges users on behaviour such as how long they play video games for and what products they buy online.
Johan Lagerkvist, Chinese internet specialist at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, told Wired: “It’s Amazon’s consumer tracking with an Orwellian political twist.”