Is there a social credit score in China?

I've just spent over three weeks travelling from Shanghai to Xinjiang, and I think I can answer that question with some degree of confidence.

Is there a social credit score in China?

This is probably the most asked question of them all.

Here’s the thing.

It doesn’t matter what I say, as I’ve come to realise—people will believe whatever they want anyway. Nobody truly cares about the truth. I’m accused of “only seeing what the CCP wants me to see”. It’s astonishing how indoctrinated everyone is.

Riding a bicycle around Shanghai still means being surveilled

Nevertheless, I’ll give the answer a go.

Yes, there is a social credit score in China. No, there isn’t a social credit score in China.

Both answers are correct and I’ll explain why.

As I mentioned before, most people subscribe to false dichotomies because they’re intellectually lazy, but the truth is that we’re dealing with complex systems here, and I’m afraid the answer is nuanced.

Firstly, what is a social credit score?

I asked Grok and here’s its reply:

A social credit score is a surveillance system that assigns individuals a numerical rating based on monitored behaviours, tracking everything from financial dealings and criminal records to social media posts and personal connections. It enforces compliance by rewarding high scores with privileges and punishing low ones with restrictions, often seen as a mechanism for hidden agendas in controlling populations rather than fostering genuine trust.

With that in mind, social credit scores have existed for many years in many countries, from demerit systems for bad driving to being unable to get a bank loan if one has a criminal record.

As such, China does indeed have social credit scoring.

But then, so do South Africa, the UK, Canada, the United States, and so on. I remember when I visited Australia back in the early 2000s, and people there told me about losing points for reckless driving, which could eventually lead to a suspension of one’s driving licence.

That’s a social credit score, whether you like it or not.

Almost everything about Shanghai is neat and orderly, but at a cost

Yes but also no

Okay, so yes, China has social credit scoring and it’s not unique; there is nothing special or additionally dystopian about it.

But what do I mean by China not having a social credit system?

Well, there are levels.

We don’t wake up one morning and suddenly realise, “Today, we have a social credit score. We didn’t have one yesterday, but today we have.”

More specifically, the Agenda 2030-styled social credit scoring, that many of us have been warning against for years, does not exist in China (yet).

This agenda is still coming, not just to China, but everywhere

There is a well-oiled propaganda operation currently underway on X, where people are parroting the same nonsense over and over again.

I suspect it’s part of an anti-China campaign, especially since middle-management bosses like Trump are trying their best to “slow down China”.

It’s certainly not organic.

It's just all garbage

I think what’s going on is a distraction.

A projection.

These people are projecting their fears onto China and it’s a distraction from their own reality they don’t want to acknowledge.

I saw nothing unusual in China

I visited nine Chinese cities and saw nothing that raised my alarm bells where social credit scoring is concerned.

Something that people like to throw at me is “Yes, well, bro, you only saw what they wanted you to see, bro” and my response to that is “Don’t be a complete moron”.

I wasn’t in North Korea, you imbecile.

I didn’t have a “guide”, you braindead zombie.

I was able to go anywhere at any time and I did, you insufferable sheep.

It’s so funny to me how unbelievably stupid people can be, due to being consumed by anti-China doomscrolling.

And no, I am not cheerleading for China either. (I’m becoming so tired of having to say that.)

I’m simply trying to present a truthful anecdote because I care about what’s true.

My answer again

Yes, China has a social credit score, but it’s no different to what other countries have.

No, China does not have a social credit score in the Klaus Schwab sense yet, but I fear that is coming, not just to China, but to all countries, and it’s not a good thing.

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In my upcoming Substack articles, I will answer more questions about China. For now, leave your comments below.