💭 Untangling China’s social credit system

Going beyond the mainstream view

The reality of social credit for people in China is often different from the way it is depicted in the West. Dev Lewis, a researcher at Digital Asia Hub and a Yenching Scholar at Peking University, explains in his State of the Exponential briefing how the systems work in reality.

Members can:

●      Watch the recording of the briefing call,

●      Read the notes prepared by the Exponential View team below,

●      Comment to continue the conversation with Dev,

●      Share with your friends and colleagues.

First, some history

Dev interviewed high-level stakeholders: people directly involved in shaping the Social Credit System. The Black Mirror comparison has stuck around, even though China’s Social Credit System has come about for historical reasons and is meant to address a set of specific failings with wide implications.

First, China did not develop a financial credit system the way countries such as the US and the UK did. Towards the end of the last century, the difficulties of opening up a…