Social Credit
Chinese Social Credit is unlike anything we have in the United States of America. It started in the Mid-1990s when they first developed a database tracking financial information from banks. In 2004 the Chinese leadership officially approved the idea and started a social credit system, they partnered with the Credit Reference Centre and it became a nationwide credit system. In 2009 they gave out 1000 points to all citizens and their actions would cost or gain them points.
The best way to describe what social credit is is by dividing it into two sections, one part values your financial worthiness and the other part is your social worthiness. Your financial worthiness comes from your bank statements and what kind of properties you own. Your social credit is how you act in your community and if you are helping or hurting your community. You receive a score as an individual but businesses are also affected by these rating systems because they are also being rated like our restaurants have grades based on their cleanliness typically A to F from the Health Inspector.
The best example that we have seen has been the black mirror episode “Nosedive”, in this episode everyone has a rating of 5 that is visible to everyone. The acts you do towards others affect your rating throughout the day and after every interaction, people give you a rating same as Uber which affects how people see you. The higher your rating the more people respect you. Later in the episode, her rating goes below 4.0 and she can’t even get on her flight home because the airline doesn’t want to be associated with people with low ratings. After she finds her way home she is en route to her best friend's wedding but receives a phone call where her friend tells her not to come because she would bring the average rating of the wedding party down but she ends up crashing the wedding and is kicked out and then thrown in jail. She realizes in jail that ratings don’t matter and people can act however they want.
The different ways your credit can go down are different for companies and individuals. For companies, things that could affect your ratings are whether you paid your taxes on time, if your product meets standards, if you have the needed licenses to operate your business. Business scores can affect their ability to expand or even get a loan from a bank. As you see pictured below they treat it as a game. Some good deeds include donating blood, doing charity work, and praising the government online. Other deeds that help your community or better the government would give you a better score. You can lose points by doing the opposite such as hating on the government online, cheating online in games, or getting caught in person stealing. There are also rewards and punishments for having a higher/lower score. Some rewards would be upgrades on hotels and airplanes, faster promotions, and even tax breaks. Some punishments would be public shaming, can't apply for jobs or loans, and limited access to events.
The different ways your credit can go down are different for companies and individuals. For companies, things that could affect your ratings are whether you paid your taxes on time, if your product meets standards, if you have the needed licenses to operate your business. Business scores can affect their ability to expand or even get a loan from a bank. As you see pictured below they treat it as a game. Some good deeds include donating blood, doing charity work, and praising the government online. Other deeds that help your community or better the government would give you a better score. You can lose points by doing the opposite such as hating on the government online, cheating online in games, or getting caught in person stealing. There are also rewards and punishments for having a higher/lower score. Some rewards would be upgrades on hotels and airplanes, faster promotions, and even tax breaks. Some punishments would be public shaming, can't apply for jobs or loans, and limited access to events.
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