Mainland Chinese travelers may find themselves stuck at home if they don’t measure up on the “social credit” scale.
Like other forms of creditworthiness, the Chinese government is reportedly weighing citizens’ social credit before allowing them to travel, according to news reports.
The system, which is expected to be fully rolled out by 2020, gives each of the country’s 1.3 billion residents a score based on their behavior and activity. Chinese can earn social points for doing good deeds, such as volunteering, and also can also forfeit points if they commit traffic violations or smoke in no-smoking zones.
According to the news reports millions have been prevented from buying air or train tickets. Some industry experts have suggested Beijing may seek to use the system to deter its citizens from gambling and in particular to crackdown on online gambling firms targeting China.
