Ethical implications of the Chinese Social Credit System on cities’ daily life

Abstract

Digital communication devices such as smartphones enable new ways to gather information about the conduct and habits of populations in certain regions or cities. In addition to the rating systems, such as those through which a customer rates a service, and which aims to expose the quality of the consuming experience of a service or product, the same logic underlies a conduct assessment method on China’s population, the Social Credit System. In this system, people with a high score receive some kind of easiness or bonus while those with low scores may have their activities limited (free movement, acquisition of goods, etc.). In philosophy, Byung Chul-Han defines this scenario as a psychopolitic that influences our decisions. This article aims to think about the use of big data and assessment systems that score human conduct, as forms of control through digital media that endanger people's decision and experience freedom, through a social engineering system that has implications in the complexity of human relations.