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China's 'Black Mirror' Social Credit System Is Causing Havoc For Some

China's 'Black Mirror' Social Credit System Is Causing Havoc For Some

More than nine million people have been blacklisted by the government since the system was introduced in 2014

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

While some of the topics covered in Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror are well and truly the work of science-fiction, there are a few elements that have already been implemented in the real world.

One of those is the technology we saw in 'Nosedive', which was kind of like a social rating system.

People had a rating based on their social standing, financial responsibility and overall good behaviour. Imagine your Uber rating but one for your whole life - yeah bleak AF.

When the episode premiered, everyone thought it was a brilliant extrapolation of our current obsession with social media and our place in other people's eyes.

But incredibly, this type of system already exists in China.

While the plan isn't expected to be fully up and running until 2020, it has been trialled in several local areas since it was first proposed in 2014. According to the Planning Outline, the system aims to 'raise the awareness for integrity and the level of credibility within society'.

via GIPHY

The Asian superpower has a 'social credit system' and every citizen with an ID and every business is given a ranking.

Their number will go up when they do good deeds like donating blood, charity work, recycling or weirdly... by sending positive messages about the country on social media. However, if citizens do something bad such as a cancel a reservation, leave a dishonest review - or more worryingly, if they're friends with someone 'bad' on social media - their points will go down.

You're probably thinking: "Finally my flaky friends will get their comeuppance."

But this ranking has some serious implications, especially if it's low.

PA

A man named Xie Wen has been on the receiving end of a low ranking after a few bad years.

According to MarketPlace, his advertising company didn't pay up after it lost a lawsuit, and Xie was 'blacklisted' by the Chinese government.

This meant he couldn't apply for a loan, couldn't board a plane or book a seat on a high-speed train. He's also banned from things like buying property, snapping up holiday packages or even enrolling a child into private education.

Mr Wen is just one of more than nine million people who have reportedly been added to the ominous blacklist.

One of the main drivers behind this social credit system is China's lack of a credit score that other countries have.

So the government decided that it would be better to be able to judge people's creditworthiness by also including their social habits.

Unsurprisingly, the system has drawn criticism from Human Rights Watch.

A statement on its website says: "Chinese government authorities clearly hope to create a reality in which bureaucratic pettiness could significantly limit people's rights.

"As President Xi Jinping's power grows, and as the system approaches full implementation, more abuses will come."

Featured Image Credit: Netflix/Black Mirror

Topics: Charlie Brooker, black mirror, Interesting, Technology, Community, China