The Sesame Credit system recently announced in China is making the rounds on social media, being touted as a tool of gamified government thought control.

For example, this privateinternetaccess.com's article begins with the bold statement:


Game design show Extra Credits has released an episode concluding similarly:


Some other sources are more reserved, acknowledging the system's existence, but not concluding any political motivation behind it.

This BBC article mentions that the scoring algorithm is secret, and that the company was reluctant to speak to foreign media due to fears of government punishment:



This Quartz article states:

While it’s true that the Chinese government intends to create what it calls a “social credit system,” Sesame Credit and its competitors (of which there will soon be several) have little to do with such plans—at least for now.

To what extent is the Chinese government involved in Sesame Credit?

Is there evidence Sesame Credit was designed with political goals in mind?

I cannot read Chinese, so I am having difficulty finding primary sources that I can process. The closest I can get is this translation of a densely-worded supposed Chinese government document. I've noticed nothing fishy in it, but I doubt its accuracy and relevance.

  • 2
    To some extent, every responsible government kinda do that with their social financing systems. An example from Brazil: You have a national credit score. Doing something that is "bad" in the eyes of the government, e.x.: not paying bills, fines, etc hurts your score and tells every other business in the country that you had issues with money in the past. Your score is kept lowered until you pay the bills. This is a simplification, of course. – T. Sar Dec 18 '15 at 19:06

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .