This exploration was made possible by CuriosityStream, The year is 2084. A Chinese citizen with an authentic Chinese
name, Winston Smith, has decided to venture from his apartment to a seedier part of the
city. But he isnât looking for a typical dark
alley product or service. No. Heâs purchasing a forbidden blank paper
book, a journal to write down his true thoughts on his life, on the party. Heâs going to commit âthought crimeâ
against the state on the privacy of a page. Many of you may have recognized this as a
reference to George Orwellâs 1984, when the main character Winston Smith goes and
buys a book to write in, and begins his journey of questioning society, away from the spying
telescreens of the state, away from the stare of Big Brother. Fortunately for that Winston Smith in 1984,
he doesn't live in a world of digital surveillance. Unfortunately for our Winston Smith in the
year 2084, as soon as he searched for blank books on Chinaâs largest shopping site,
Alibaba, the system flagged him. The same happened when he searched Chinaâs
largest search engine, Baidu, for nearby bookstores. His phone tracked his GPS movements on his
way to the store. And the state made note of the bank transaction
when he finally purchased the book. So heâs immediately arrested and taken to
prison room 101 for reeducation. The point is that even George Orwell only
imagined a world where your TV spied on you, not our world of all-encompassing digital
surveillance. Ok, that was an over exaggerated example. Letâs look at something that actually happens
today. Youâre in China, and youâve been working
without a day off for the past few months, and decide that you want to take a vacation. You go to an airlineâs website, enter your
personal and financial details. Youâve been approved a few days off work,
your credit card is paid off, and youâre looking forward to visiting friends in another
city. But when you hit the purchase button, the
online system rejects you, referring to the Supreme Court as the reason why you are unable
to purchase a ticket. Evidently, youâre blacklisted. Now this scenario has actually happened in
China. 23 million people have been barred from purchasing
domestic flights due to their low social credit scores, according to official government statistics. (âOnce discredited, limited everywhereâ)
(2). Now what is social credit? What distinguishes social credit from say,
just a credit score, like weâre accustomed to in the West? In the West a credit score, at its most basic,
is a number representing how worthy you are of a loan, how much debt you can take on and
pay off. Itâs financial. Social credit includes the financial stuff,
but also much more than that. Imagine if your credit score was also affected
by the people you chose to associate with, your political affiliation, how many kids
you had, how many hours a day you gamed or browsed social media, your volunteer work
(or lack thereof), your faith. All your spending habits, all your day to
day behaviors amalgamated into a single number that not just some company can see, not just
the government can see, but all your friends and family, all your nosy neighbors. Imagine the pressure and the consequences
something that could have. Thatâs what weâre going to explore today. Chinaâs infant, yet developing social credit
system. Because the social credit system is not what
Orwell imagined, at least not yet. Part of that is because the system is not
fully operational, and probably wonât be for another few years. In fact, the current system is not unified
at all; it's several different regional and private pilot projects working independently
from one another. (3)
To understand the rationale behind the social credit system, we have to take a look at the
various ways that the Communist Party of China has sought to control its citizens since it
took control of the country in 1949. This branch of digital social credit may be
new, but itâs roots are old. The collectivization of farms under Chairman
Mao meant that individuals were measured as part of a group- members who did not pull
their weight were penalized and pressured by others in the commune to do more, and to
do better. (4)
The Danwei, or âWork Unitâ system provided a similar structure but for urban workers. Individual danwei were basically work communes,
and became the central organizing unit in urban Chinese society beginning in the 1950s. Danwei were ranked by the Party based on their
political standing, and the ranking of a danwei would determine the amount of publicly rationed
goods that the group would receive. (5)
Each danwei maintained a personnel file on their members, which included things like
work history, social background, and political attitudes. Promotions and other rewards were tied to
these files, and each danwei was expected to work in concert with national security
organizations in policing the activity of their members. Those who held the wrong political beliefs
or did not pull their weight at work could be kicked out of the danwei and blacklisted
from joining another, preventing access to public goods and to other work. (5)
The danwei system evolved into the hukou, or housing registration system in the 1980s
following the death of Mao and the slow transition to a capitalist economy. The hukou system tracked where people lived,
worked, or went to school, but broke down as urbanization rapidly increased. (5)
The range of methods that the Party has employed to try and control its citizens is best viewed
through the lens of the cultural revolution, which lasted ten years from 1966 until 1976,
and turned Chinese society completely on its head. The goal was to reinforce the presence of
the state in citizenâs private lives. Newspaper, radio, and bulletin boards were
used to broadcast the messages of the party, mobilizing thousands to wave Maoâs book
of quotations and reeducate so-called âreactionary elementsâ of the party. Thousands were prosecuted- tortured, from
developed urban centers to remote, rural areas, and armed conflict broke out between the Red
Guards, other organizations, and regular army units. The impact of such intense state-sanctioned
civil violence on Chinese society is hard to measure. What can be safely said is that the scars
of the cultural revolution are still present, and that has manifested itself in a general
distrust of authority, particularly distrust in the Party. (7;8)
During the 1990s, the Party sought to extend control over the newest frontier, the internet,
through the Golden Shield â or Great Firewall â that blocks sites, filters results, and
censors certain topics, all the while monitoring the online activities of Chinese citizens. (6) Check out my video âHow China Controls
the Internetâ to learn more about that. And now comes the social credit system, the
âBig Brotherâ-esque monitoring network that will track all sorts of data, from the
items you purchase to the hobbies you dedicate your time to, all to determine how good of
a citizen you are. The Chinese government argues that the social
credit system will be a way to increase trust and accountability within Chinese society-
(9) to âmake trustworthy people benefit everywhere and untrustworthy people restricted
everywhereâ The system will work to enforce laws and court
decisions, and encourage good behavior. Officials say itâs a necessary step because
of Chinaâs rapidly developing economy; government monitoring is required to prevent crime and
ensure a smoother transition to an urban, developed population. (10)
The Party has outlined its plans for a finished system, which will be divided into four separate
categories, the performance and good behavior of local governments, commercial enterprises,
local judicial systems, and finally, citizens themselves. (9)
In 2014, the Chinese government authorized eight tech companies, including well-known
names like Alibaba and Tencent, to begin creating their own commercial pilot programs. Many regional governments have done the same. The government is analyzing the data from
these pilots as it plans it own integrated system for the future. Alibabaâs program is called Sesame Credit,
which analyzes all activity across Alibabaâs platforms â shopping, entertainment, internet
use and messaging- financial and online payment programs â to develop a single numerical
score. Doing things like playing video games constantly
or not paying your bills on time will drop your score, whereas making âresponsibleâ
purchases, like diapers, or donating to charities will raise it. (11)
A high enough score allows access to discounted tickets, deposit waivers on hotel rooms and
car rentals, and even a priority visa application process. (12)
Baihe, the largest dating site in China, has linked its service to Sesame Credit, giving
those with better scores more prominent placement within its network. Many people are choosing to publicly disclose
their Sesame Credit score to potential lovers as an indication of their good standing within
society. (13)
The end goal of these pilot programs is to create a centralized database that encourages
trust. The party argues that this is necessary because
while the Chinese Central Bank has financial data on most of its citizens, the majority
lack a traditional credit history. (3)
The governmentâs official narrative also highlights fraud and crime reduction, since
people will no longer be able to take advantage of Chinaâs size and large economy to move
from region to region peddling fraudulent activity. (14)
And to a certain extent, the governmentâs narrative is true. Regional governments have set up these pilot
social credit systems, and have had moderate success in encouraging the kind of behaviors
they want. Like the pilot programs tech companies set
up, these regional governments measure a range of different activities. Getting a traffic ticket will lower your score,
while a drunk driving case will cause it to plummet. Volunteering and charitable donations will
raise your score by a set amount, and doing truly exemplary things in your personal life,
like caring for your elders, can greatly increase your standing. Every aspect of your life is monitored, and
will affect your score. (10)
And as you may have noticed, this is mostly a rewards-based system, at least for now. High scoring residents in some towns have
their pictures shown in public places, and rewards are handed out to those with the highest
ratings â including discounts on heating bills and better terms on bank loans. It is the threat of losing points, and thus
access to these rewards, which encourages people to change their behavior. And so part of the efficacy of the program
so far is in linking rewards to this giant monitoring system â itâs governance with
the carrot, and not the stick. And yet that really doesnât tell the whole
story because the government definitely still has a big stick to hit people with, even if
theyâre not trying to flaunt it. The ambiguity of the social credit program
gives party officials a great deal of unilateral power in deciding who has behaved in an undesirable
way, and then punishing them for it. So as you would expect, some arbitrary decisions
have already been made, serving as a canary in the coalmine, warning of the initial abuse
within the social credit system. For example, Li Xiaolin, a lawyer, was blacklisted
in 2016. A written apology he had submitted to a court
the previous year was deemed insincere. The court found his apology insincere partly
because it was dated April 1st, as in âApril Foolsâ, and the court didnât even notify
Mr. Li of this peculiar conclusion. (16)
A similar decision was handed down to an investigative journalist, who was fined by a court. Though he sent the payment, it was not received,
and he was not notified until he tried to purchase plane tickets, and was unable to
do so. He couldnât remove his name from the blacklist,
and has found no recourse in appealing to the court. (16)
Further, according to Human Rights Watch, while some regional governments name their
best citizens in order to hold up good role models, they also post the complete personal
information of those with the lowest ratings â including pictures and addresses â in
order to place social pressure on them to alter their behavior. Over 7 million citizens were ânamed and
shamedâ in this way by the end of 2017. The Supreme Peopleâs Court of China has
also blacklisted over 170,000 people from holding senior positions in private companies
because they have defaulted on their debts. These people are also prohibited from purchasing
plane and train tickets until their debt has been repaid. (18)
An app developed in a province in Northern China maps, in real time, the location of
debtors. Users are encouraged to follow debtors around
and determine if they are living âoutside their meansâ and are able to repay their
debts, providing an avenue for users to blow the whistle on complete strangers. (17) As Chinaâs State Council explained,
"the new system will reward those who report acts of breach of trust". You can imagine by now how this could all
slowly get out of control, or rather, into full state control. So, yes, maybe by linking rewards and positive
outcomes to a monitoring system, the social credit system can seem benevolent at first-
rewarded persons with high enough scores, it may have a positive impact on their lives. But the mass data collection, and the arbitrary
nature in which punishments can be meted out, represent a very real threat to citizensâ
financial security, privacy, and overall well being. The government can bar political opponents
from being able to travel, access housing, financial or employment resources. The potential for abuse is readily apparent. Now, some Western experts and journalists
have said that concerns about the social credit system this early in its development are overblown
and premature. It's not a unified system. There are some abuses, but theyâre not that
bad, yet. And other people are down in the comments,
you may have already seen them. saying, âWhat about US privacy violations
and big data mining?!â to which I say, âYes. Good exampleâ. Social media companies, YouTube, Twitter,
Facebook- they're trying to change your behavior. Theyâre trying to keep you on their platforms
for as long as possible, even if it means addiction. The longer you're there, the more ads they
serve for clothes and gadgets, and the more data they can mine from you to sell to other
companies, so they can sell you more clothes and gadgets. All the while, you see beautiful people and
friends with clothes and gadgets, so you're even more primed when the top google result
is for a camera you just happened to email your coworker about. You're being nudged. China's social credit system is also decentralized
nudging at this point, but the goal isnât just to distract or to increase stock prices,
it's a holistic attempt to influence all aspects of behavior in a way that reinforces the centrifugality
of the party. The social credit system is not a jackbooted
crackdown on citizens like the Cultural Revolution. Instead, it is designed to give wide lateral
to companies, cities, and neighborhoods implementing the pilots- space to develop both punishments
and incentives to push conformity- to change both the actions and thoughts of the Chinese
population, not through violence or force but through the process of gradual normative
behavioral change. The primary purpose of the social credit system
is not to punish those who have committed crimes: it is to alter the way that individuals
think, so they would never even consider committing a crime in the first place. âWe are not interested in those stupid crimes
that you have committed. The Party is not interested in the overt act:
the thought is all we care about. We do not merely destroy our enemies, we change
them.â (1)
Of course, if Big Brother were to come out of 1984 and into China, he would tell all
citizens to spend time educating themselves. He even might tell them to watch a documentary
on CuriosityStream. CuriosityStream is a streaming service that
offers over 2,000 documentaries and nonfiction titles from some of the world's best filmmakers,
including exclusive originals. Originally founded by John Hendricks, founder
of the Discovery Channel, itâs packed full of content about science, nature, technology,
society, and lots of history. If you want to keep learning about modern
china, I can recommend a series called, âCurious Minds: Chinaâ a 7 episode deep-dive into
Chinaâs past, present, and future. After that, take a look through CuriosityStreamâs
history section, which has ancient history, biographies, prehistory, even niche history
like megastructures and aviation. Unlimited access starts at $2.99 a month,
but for this community the first 30 days are free if you follow the link in the description
and use promo code theexploration at sign-up. So head on over to curiositystream.com/theexploration
and use promo code theexploration for 30 days free access to the worldâs top documentaries
and nonfiction series. Later guys.
Whoever and wherever you are, your societal norms and governmental policies are trending towards this.