Big Pooh Bear Is Watching You
You are more than a number. How many times have you heard that phrase ever since starting college? Hopefully not too many. But for China’s 1.4 billion citizens, a single number will not only define who they are, but also determine their way of life. These people will soon live in a chilling reality where their every action is monitored, evaluated, and quantified to calculate their Citizen Score, a number that is indicative of the “trustworthiness” of their character. What are these ratings used for? Nearly everything. If your rating drops too low, you could be banned from buying tickets for domestic flights. If your rating is high, you’ll have a better chance on dating websites to find a partner.[su_pullquote]But for China’s 1.4 billion citizens, a single number will not only define who they are, but also determine their way of life.[/su_pullquote]
This outlandish scenario sounds like something straight out of a futuristic dystopian novel or an episode of Black Mirror (Nosedive, anyone?), but China’s Social Credit System (SCS) is not some fictional Big Brother—it’s absolutely real, as the implementation of this imposing system has been underway since its introduction on June 14, 2014 by the Chinese government. Millions of people are piloting the system for ongoing development and research purposes right now, but the program is expected to be fully operational by 2020 and participation is mandatory.
How exactly is the Chinese government keeping tabs on every citizen’s daily activities? China’s massive data-mining tech companies are certainly involved (think of companies similar to Facebook or Google). In this day and age of digital information, it’s easy to assess someone just by glancing at their online profile, and when an illiberal dictatorship joins forces with capitalist establishments, it becomes even easier to collect personal information. The Chinese government has given licenses to eight private companies (all generate massive amounts of data) including Sesame Credit (owned by Alibaba Group), Tencent, Didi Chuxing (China’s largest ride-sharing service), and Baihe.com (China’s largest online-dating service) to design algorithms for determining Citizen Scores.
Alibaba can’t reveal the complex algorithm it uses to determine Citizen Scores, but it states that there are five main factors considered. The first three are standard: credit history, company loyalty, and personal information. However, it’s the last two factors that are far more controversial: behavior/preferences and interpersonal relationships. Alibaba’s system judges someone who watches TV for six hours straight much more harshly than, say, someone who consistently buys school supplies because the former is likely to be a couch potato and the latter is probably a responsible student.
The glaring controversy lies not only within what can be objectively judged as “good behavior” under certain contexts and circumstances, but also in the seemingly innocent, Pavlovian nudge the system is giving to Chinese citizens; good behavior is rewarded with good benefits, but at what point will this turn into downright brainwashing when the Chinese government starts to push its own agenda? As for interpersonal relationships, who you choose to interact and become friends with is also judged based on how much “positive energy” is generated. Sounds nice in theory, right? Alibaba classifies conversations containing positive energy as those with nice messages about the government or how well the economy is doing (thanks to the government!).
[su_pullquote align=”right”]It might be easy to criticize China’s SCS for its controversial use of private data, but look our own country. The NSA breathes down our necks while Amazon recommends us a shopping cart of goods.[/su_pullquote]The SCS has been sinisterly creeping up on Chinese society under the guise of a beneficial system that encourages model behavior and strengthens the socialist market economy since its purpose is to “improve the integrity and credit level of the whole society,” but it’s almost brazenly clear that the Chinese government is exploiting this front as a way to tighten its reign on the country. But that’s why the SCS is such a clever plan. As the world transitions into the peak of the Information Age, the distinction between what’s online and what’s offline becomes blurrier and blurrier. When we indulge in virtual experiences, we are simultaneously shaping our online personas, which are naturally different from our “real” personalities. For example, you might be nicer to your Uber driver if you see that their online rating is high, or you might deem someone to be friendly based on their Facebook profile. China’s SCS takes advantage of this culture shift by following the flow of change and capitalizing on the growing dependence on data. Instead of waving around a big stick and dishing out threats, the Chinese government commands obedience by creating a naughty-or-nice system to incentivize Chinese citizens to put on their best behavior for more than just Christmas.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]China is merely taking the first outward step towards using something that has always been lurking in the shadows.[/su_pullquote]It might be easy to criticize China’s SCS for its controversial use of private data, but look our own country. The NSA breathes down our necks while Amazon recommends us a shopping cart of goods. Data mining is no longer just acceptable; it’s required in the society that we currently live in. China is merely taking the first outward step towards using something that has always been lurking in the shadows.
Caron Song ‘19 studies in the School of Engineering & Applied Science. She can be reached at songcaron@wustl.edu.