Social Credit System in China

Shikha Semwal

From Creemer (2018), summarise why the SCS has been created. Explain briefly the concept of the
“Joint Punishment System” and the link between the private social credit and the central
givernement SCS?

According to government the SCS will improve sincerity and promote trustworthiness and
eliminate dishonesty from the society, at meantime it will help government to maintain the
governance and justice. SCS is also aimed to better check the performance of local administrations.

The Joint Punishment Program was established at a conference in 2016 that included 45 different
government (45 Party bodies) departments. Joint punishment explicitly targets acts of
“untrustworthiness”. The Join Punishment Program is based on a blacklist system, where a reported
offender name will on a published list, which would lead to restrict from several activities, such as
economic opportunities, participation in government procurement programmes,
government subsidies, civil service, honorary titles, bank loans, travel first class, ban from
restaurants/hotels.
The sesame credit which developed by Ant Financial Group, an affiliate of the E-commerce
behemoth Alibaba. Its credit scores on a person’s credit repayments, behavioral trends
while purchasing and procession payments, ability to honor agreements, personal
information, and social relationships. The person with the highest scores is awarded priority
check-ins in the airport, a fast procedure in applying for the visa, and discounts in
restaurants, hotels, and purchases. Alibaba, which is the parent of a sesame credit system,
and is one of the collaborative partners in Joint Punishment Program, the blacklisted
offender won't able to purchases many items from Alibaba’s websites. Alipay implemented
a feature in which users gave permission to access their Sesame scores by default.
Moreover, Alibaba has also shared the user’s personal data with the government.
The Alipay health used by the Hangzhou government with the help of Ant financial, help the
government during the outbreak of COVID-19. The app Color system determines the movements of
the citizen and the data was shared with the government.

What is chocking western economies in the SCS? What are the Chinese reactions Mrs
Wang collected? (expected lengh ~200 words)
The main concern of the western world is human rights, and digital dictatorship by China’s
political party and the SCS gives the western world a glimpse of horror from the black mirror
episode where a girl faces a crisis because of the social credit system.
Mrs. Wang found that most of the Chinese are in favor of SCS, they believe that it will
improve sincerity, empathy, sympathy, and trust in the society which is lacking in the
current society such as past scams that have been occurred. Moreover, People of China
believe that the credit system has adopted from western culture. Most of the Chinese
believe in an adage “People are doing things, and the sky (tian) is watching”, therefore most
Chinese don’t find any problem with SCS.
How is the SCS used in China during the COVID 19 outbreak? What are the main strengths and
weaknesses?

The SCS has helped Chinese government to quarantine and manage the spread of the virus. The
citizens who will hide their travel history and health issues (covid-19s symptoms) will be put in the
blacklist. Hangzhou government project Alipay Health Code with the help of Ant Financial
determined which citizens can travel and work based on a Color code system provided the app. In
the app, green Color meant travel freely, and Red or yellow meant report immediately. This app was
already been in use in 200 cities, the Alipay Health Code has helped the government to track down
the digital footsteps of its citizens. Moreover, if a pharmacy or any shops were selling necessary
times more than the product value, those shops were blacklisted and were punished within SCS.

The biggest strength of the using the SCS was that it has helped government to contain the virus
because they were able to track the information/movements of its citizen.

The main weakness of the SCS / Alipay Health Code was the accessibility to the wider citizen. Most of
the older citizens were facing problems while using the app, which leads to frustration among senior
citizens. Moreover, there were bugs in the app which created confusion among the citizen because
there was a sudden change of Color even if there were no movements(travel)from the user side.

Free Expression – What do you think about the SCS in China and these different articles?

After reading the articles of Creemer (2018), Wang 2019, Paul Mozur, Raymond Zhong and Aaron
Krolik March 2020, and Alexander Chipman Koty, March 2020, I have a strong negative opinion
which weighs more than positive opinion.

The SCS is useful to bring morality and justice in the society, as mentioned in Creemer (2018), the
morality of Chinese people is lacking day by day with more corruptions and scandals. It is important
for the government to take actions to solve this crisis. Moreover, it can help the government to track
down paedophile, serial killers, and people who are suffering from mental illness. The SCS system
helped China during COVID-19 outbreak which cannot be neglected, the app helped to cut down the
unnecessary movements from the citizens.

However, at the same time, SCS also presents clear and immense threats to privacy and
independence of the Chinese people which they have earned since the great leap forward and
cultural revolution. The citizen might not be able to raise their voice against the government as it
might lead to low score. Moreover, ALIPAY or Sesame credit both apps have shared their user
information to the government without the prior consent of the user, and also by default, users gave
permission to access their Sesame scores (Creemers, 2018). As stated in (Diamond, 2018)” China is
selectively breeding its population to select against the trait of critical, independent thinking.” In
simpler terms, making their citizen slave of the party through the digital world. The Chinese
government has always tried to suppress any kind of revolution against the party either it is
democratic movement (Tiananmen Square massacre) or yellow umbrella movement in Hong Kong.
The SCS will give them the advantage to control any anti-government voice even before it happens.
Bibliography
 (Impact of COVID-19 on China’s Social Credit System, 2020)

 Creemers, R. (2018). China’s Social Credit System: An Evolving Practice of Control. SSRN

Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3175792

 Diamond, A. M., Larry. (2018, February 2). China’s Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone.

The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/china-

surveillance/552203/

 Impact of COVID-19 on China’s Social Credit System: Key Implications. (2020, March 26).

China Briefing News. https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-social-credit-system-

covid-19-triggers-some-exemptions-obligations-businesses/

 Mozur, P., Zhong, R., & Krolik, A. (2020, March 1). In Coronavirus Fight, China Gives Citizens a

Color Code, With Red Flags. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/business/china-coronavirus-surveillance.html