China has stepped up its internet censorship by demanding its citizens pass a facial-recognition test to be able to use web services.

People who want to have the internet installed at home or on their phones must have their faces scanned by the Chinese authority to prove their identities, according to a new regulation.

The rule, which will take effect on December 1, is said to be part of the social credit system which rates the Chinese citizens based on their daily behaviour.

Chinese citizens must have their faces scanned by the authority to prove their identity before they are allowed to have internet connection at home or on their phones from December 1

The nation's internet watchdog said the news rule could help improve internet security

At present, a Chinese citizen will need to show his or her ID card while applying for a landline or the internet.

The facial-recognition test is set to verify that the ID card belongs to the applicant.

The directive was issued by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology late last month.

The Ministry claimed the move would help improve the country's internet security and combat terrorism.

Chinese citizens are also banned from re-selling their SIM cards by the regulation to prevent unregistered users from making calls from mobile phones.

China has been building the world's largest facial-recognition surveillance system.

The Big-Brother-style scheme is powered by hundreds of millions of AI street cameras aiming to identify any of the country's citizens within three seconds.

China's 1.4 billion population are set to be carefully watched by 626 million street monitors - many having facial-recognition functions - as early as next year, according to a survey

The world's five most-monitored cities are Chongqing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Tianjin and Ji'nan

The country's 1.4 billion population are set to be carefully watched by 626 million CCTV monitors - many having facial-recognition functions - as early as next year, a recent study revealed.

That's one camera for every two people.

The most-surveilled city in China, Chongqing, is equipped with more than 2.5 million street cameras, or one for every six people.

Critics, however, have voiced concerns over the system, claiming it's a way for the government to invade citizens' privacy and restrict their freedom.

Many have also compared it to a dystopian system run by a fictional state leader, Big Brother, in George Orwell's novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.

China has the five most-monitored cities in the world. Pictured, a security camera is seen in Shenzhen, the second most-surveilled city on the list with more than 1.9 million CCTV cameras

Paul Bischoff, a researcher on surveillance topics, previously told MailOnline: 'China is rapidly adopting CCTV surveillance as a means to monitor the movements of its population at a huge scale.

'CCTV in China is not just about stopping crime, but also enforcing social norms and behaviors that the government approves of.'

China's surveillance network also supports the nation's social credit system, which rates its citizens based on their daily behaviour.

Once complete next year, the national system could determine how easy a citizen could rent a flat, buy travel tickets or pay for a cup of tea.

The system will help the country restore morality, according to China's state-run newspaper Global Times.

Latest statistics show the Chinese social credit system blocked what it called 'discredited entities' from taking 2.56 million flights and 90,000 high-speed train journeys in July alone.