Big China Is Watching You

But what if there was a score that told the government how dutiful a citizen you’ve been? Have you jaywalked? How often do you praise the government? Do you volunteer at the soup kitchen? How do you spend your time on social media?

Now, what if a low score carried social implications? What if it meant that your kid couldn’t get into the school of his choice and that you couldn’t get a good job? What if it meant there was a “blacklist” of social undesirables and that information was broadcast publicly, for instance at a movie theater before a show or on billboards overlooking the town square?

Such a system exists, today, in China. It is called the Social Credit System and is scheduled to be fully rolled out in 2020. Already, the government has access to banking accounts and health records, preferred media outlets, and lists of friends. It collects all that information by way of facial recognition software and big data. It’s a bit like Big Brother meets Facebook for China’s 1.4 billion citizens.

What can sometimes get lost in all the rhetoric about the trade war between the United States and China is that the competition between the two nations is about more than just the price of soybeans, clock radios, and washing machines. It’s really about which nation holds sway over world affairs; whose political manifesto is adopted and whose isn’t.