China is taking their restrictions to the next level, now working to bar people from transportation like flights and planes due to bad “social credit.” According to Reuters, “people who would be put on the restricted lists included those found to have committed acts like spreading false information about terrorism and causing trouble on flights, as well as those who used expired tickets or smoked on trains.”
The National Development and Reform Commission also claimed that people who had “financial wrongdoings, such as employers who failed to pay social insurance or people who have failed to pay fines” would also face these travel restrictions as well. This new plan will go into effect on May 1, and is part of China’s ongoing (but still unofficial) plan to measure their citizens’ “social credit” based on the principle of “once untrustworthy, always restricted.” In a very Black Mirror move, there are also plans for a system that would allow for government organizations to disclose data on their citizens’ trustworthiness and issue penalties and additional restrictions based on people’s social credit score.
This may not be a totally new move, though, as 6.15 million Chinese citizens have been banned from various modes of transportation due to their “social misdeeds” back in early 2017.
(Via Reuters)
