Photo by Maxim Hopman

By the late 2010s, China’s “social credit system” (SCS) was increasingly viewed as a notorious government effort to monitor personal behavior, shape public conduct, and control access to services. While the system traces back to the 2000s, it was officially expanded and formalized in 2014.

For example, in 2019, mixed martial arts fighter Xu Xiaodong made headlines when his social credit score was lowered “for insulting tai chi grandmaster Chen Xiaowang,” according to Quartz, which also led to him facing travel restrictions. In contrast, citizens in Rongcheng who earned the highest ratings of “AAA” through acts of charity and civic duty enjoyed perks like discounted energy bills.

Personal reputation and risk scoring tools have also spread globally, particularly in the private sector. These systems go well beyond customer loyalty programs or service prioritization. Their growing social, legal, and economic consequences make it urgent to understand how these systems work and how automation will make them faster, less transparent, and more consequential.

In the U.S., tenant verification companies like RentGrow have mistakenly blacklisted renters for years, prompting a 2024 consumer protection lawsuit. Insurers are increasingly using non-financial data such as shopping habits and social media activity to build behavioral profiles and alter their services, pushing legal boundaries.

Ensuring trust, accountability, and good behavior in citizens and consumers is not inherently harmful when done by governments and companies, respectively. But when this exercise is powered by vast datasets and opaque surveillance tools, often involving scoring, these real-time behavior monitoring systems are prone to misuse.

China

China’s government-run SCS is the world’s most advanced, though it is yet to be completely implemented. Instead of isolated blacklists or points systems, it aims to collect and analyze a wide range of data, including finances, social behavior, and government records, to score citizens and implore them to follow state-approved norms.

The concept emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with local pilot programs starting in 2009. Rongcheng became an early test case by 2013, giving around 700,000 residents a baseline score of 1,000. Scores improved through actions like donating blood or volunteering, unlocking advantages like free medical checkups. Meanwhile, deductions were made for offences like tax evasion, which could cut off government benefits (though for many, the impact was minimal).

After Chinese authorities announced a national six-year development program in 2014, dozens of other “

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