china internet cafe REUTERS/Stringer

China plans to rank all its citizens based on their „social credit“ by 2020.

People can be rewarded or punished according to their scores.

Like private financial credit scores, a person’s social scores can move up and down according to their behavior.

At the moment the system is piecemeal — some are run by city councils, while others are scored by private tech platforms that hold personal data.

Scroll down to see how you can be punished or rewarded.

The Chinese state is setting up a vast ranking system that will monitor the behavior of its enormous population, and rank them all based on their „social credit.“

The „social credit system,“ first announced in 2014, aims to reinforce the idea that „keeping trust is glorious and breaking trust is disgraceful,“ according to a government document.

The program is due to be fully operational nationwide by 2020, but is being piloted for millions of people across the country already. The scheme will be mandatory.

At the moment the system is piecemeal — some are run by city councils, others are scored by private tech platforms which hold personal data.

Like private credit scores, a person’s social score can move up and down depending on their behavior. The exact methodology is a secret — but examples of infractions include bad driving, smoking in non-smoking zones, buying too many video games and posting fake news online.

China has started ranking citizens with a creepy ’social credit‘ system — here’s what you can do wrong, and the embarrassing, demeaning ways they can punish you

12 Bilder Open slideshow