Western perception of “Social credit” largely propaganda btw and if you believe it isnt then you got manipulated.
I don't think many people in the West like credit score system either tbh
this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025
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Since this is an anarchist instance, I was willing to give OP the benefit of a doubt that this is against states in general but, alas, reading their comments it is whataboutism
In another thread they were praising Stalin so I don’t think they deserve benefit of the doubt.
i'm getting close to blocking. their behavior i feel violates rule 6 (or 7 i can't see the sidebar on mobile) that users of this community should not deify past socialist experience. they have demonstrated a pattern of behavior that strongly favors imperialism with a veneer of leftist aesthetic. the mods ignoring this pattern in the face of reports has left a really bad taste in my mouth that's been slowly driving me away from dbzer0 and anarchist.nexus, two of my former favorite instances aside from my own here at slrpnk.net.
totalitarian authoritarian regimes are what socialism and communism are meant to be an alternative to, not something we should celebrate as long as they wear a red coat of paint. it's been very dissapointing as the rules of this communicate that this is supposed to be a generally left comm but more and more it's just !memes@lemmy.ml but on another instance
Yes I do feel leftymemes @ dbzer0 unfortunately has a sizeable ML influence.
The main mod of this community actually does some soviet union apologia I think. Which means the rules 6 basically isnt followed while they’re in charge.
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Lot of people defending it though
"It's not that bad 700 score is easy to get"
I defaulted on a loan and my credit score dropped down to 500. Still being chased by the debt collectors a year later and it's gone back up to 700 by itself. I have no credit cards or anything. The whole thing is a joke.
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Two things can be bad at the same time.
Yes that seems to be the point of the post
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The US has both:
The Chinese Social Credit score is where your Facebook and other social media are scoured by HR before you are hired. But if you are rich, your Facebook posts don't matter because your Dad made you an executive the company.
A Credit Score is pure capitalism. You can be a racist asshole and get the best deal from banks because you have money.
China is no different with their Princeling "Fuerdai".
So actually looked into the social credit system a while ago and it turns out a lot of it is myth and it seems to have been largely wound down after some abuse by some of the ?prefectures? where it was trialed and used to punish a few people (it was supposed to reward good behaviour by businesses and institutions apparently) but what remains did strike me as very similar to credit score, although it's maybe slightly more accountable? Maybe?
Anyway both seem dogshit, although a system verifying how organisations actually act (e.g. counter greenwashing and shit with hard evidence) would be cool if anyone could make it work.
As usual, investigation into socialist practices reveals that the negative opinions held by the west are largely based on propaganda and lies.
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Not to say credit scores are fun, but comparing the two is kinda absurd. Credit scores are calculated by private companies and used by banks to determine your eligibility for a loan. Essentially, it's an averaged history of how good you are at repaying debt, and it's used to determine if you will repay future debt. The people who calculate your score have no interest in how it affects you. The social credit system is a government score and has tons of things that can affect it, and there's plenty of opportunity for fudgery to screw you over. There are tons of ways in can negatively affect you. Worst of all, it can be used to deny international flights, and in effect your ability to escape the system. Since this is actually run by the government, it creates an avenue for punishing political dissent and control that just doesn't exist with credit scores.
The main difference is that credit score exists while the Chinese social score doesn't.
The Social Credit doesn't exist, FICO does. One has more impact because it's real.
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Because our ssn was stolen many of times, our credit score was low even after we fought off all the charges and couldn’t get an apartment without a garentour. Moved to Spain and never needed a garentour or social check in basic necessities, hell we could go for a loan and the only thing judged is our reasoning. Slowly waiting for permanent residency and citizenship :)
What the fuck is this nonsense?
Nobody likes credit scores but it's at least marginally financial measurements that are used for financial decisions.
It's regressive, but only because our society is regressive. A middle class person who overspends and doesn't pay their bills on time is probably gonna get treated better than a poor person who needs groceries and fails to pay their grocery bills on time, yes. But it's still financial.
The poor person isn't being stopped from buying a train ticket. They might not have money to do so, but that's a different societal fuck up.
At least compare apples to apples.
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“There has been a widespread misconception that China operates a nationwide and unitary social credit "score" based on individuals' behavior, leading to punishments if the score is too low. Media reports in the West have sometimes exaggerated or inaccurately described this concept. It issued guidelines clarifying that citizens could not be punished for having low scores”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System
Social credit in China is more about gauging trustworthiness of business entities. Something that is a great benefit to their citizens.
That may be the case but you people have to stop trying to defend China all the time. You can’t even search the word “democracy” without being added to a list.
Ah yeah, because the five eyes (of which the UK is a member) doesn't flag people and add them to watchlists for comments potentially like this one
I am currently reading a book (Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers) by a CCP member and he talks about:
- The merits of Democracy
- Tienamen Square
- A better leadership style for China than what they have
So you can talk about these things, but what isn't allowed is being inflammatory.
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This reads like someone who can't fathom that some people genuinely do like China and think it's doing a good job. It always comes back to Western chauvinism where we think that our values like liberal capitalism and bourgeois democracy are inherently superior to the values held by most people in the global south. Maybe they don't always want what we want.
Too much criticism of China is based on falsehoods and deliberate misrepresentation of certain aspects of Chinese society, culture, and politics. Case in point: the social credit system. Criticism is fine if it's fair and based on facts.
That's all well and good. The problem comes when either one tries to criticize the other. It's hypocrisy. Always resulting in whataboutism as justification.
Without press freedom or freedom of speech as well. It is impossible to say whether China or any country is doing well or right by its people. And it is an excellent metric to look at and judge the United States decline by as well. If you wouldn't trust a police department to investigate the abuse and brutality perpetrated by them. Or take Pete Haggseth at his word about those innocent fishermen he killed. But you accept the narrative of the CCP. That's willful hypocrisy.
Is what gets reported about a lot in Western-free press concerning China, sometimes false? Sure. Is it all false? Certainly not. It's just a shame there is no independent free press in China to actually get the facts out. But plenty of the CCPs verifiable abuse gets handwaved away. Concerning uhygers and other non ethnic minorities. Especially when we can point to real named victims.
Such as the case of Naomi Wu. If you have been in the maker space/3d printing over the last decade. You had likely at least heard of her if not met her. She was a wonderful window into the local culture of shenzhen. A great citizen ambassador for China. And international brand ambassador for creality. Often getting their newest products to demonstrate and display. Till that day. The day she dared put up a personal video. Discussing how she'd suffered because of the CCPs one child policy. And how she and her partner. A uhyger were managing with the restrictions placed on them as an ethnic minority. It was a great and informative video. That didn't even paint the CCP in that bad of a light. But it didn't keep representatives of the CCP from beating down her door. Threatening her livelihood and life convincingly enough that she cut off all international presence and contact. Those aren't the actions of a good or benevolent government.
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It sounds like it was the sort of horrid "good citizen" system in pilot cities until it was stopped
In 2019, the central government voiced dissatisfaction with pilot cities experimenting with social credit scores. It issued guidelines clarifying that citizens could not be punished for having low scores and that punishments should only be limited to legally defined crimes and civil infractions. As a result, pilot cities either discontinued their point-based systems or restricted them to voluntary participation with no major consequences for having low scores.
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There are more 'social scores' than just the credit one. The main difference is that in the West it's kept in secret, while China is open about it. Of course, it's also different than American propaganda says.
Arguments can be made both in favor and against such systems or their parts. I think we can all agree that the American one goes far beyond reasonable social utility. The Chinese one too, probably. China may be a lot better than our media tells us, but it's still far from perfect.
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