Suzhou city takes a page from China’s social credit system with Civility Code that rates citizens’ behaviour through a smartphone app
- The Suzhou Civility Code, still under trial, scores a person’s traffic performance on a 1,000-point scale
- Chinese netizens mock the scheme with comparisons to dystopian British TV series Black Mirror
A Chinese city’s plan to score citizens by how “civil” they are has prompted comparisons to Black Mirror and China’s last imperial dynasty.
Authorities in the eastern city of Suzhou, west of Shanghai, introduced a new function designed to measure a person’s civic performance. The new “Sucheng Wenmingma”, which roughly translates as “Suzhou Civility Code”, aims to encourage people to follow traffic rules, take part in voluntary services, sort their trash and do other things that make them model citizens in the eyes of the government. The code is accessed via a smartphone app.
During a brief trial last week, the app actively tracked users’ traffic performance, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported. For each infraction, such as running a red light, 50 points were deducted from the starting total of 1,000 points. A user could gain back lost points by taking part in voluntary traffic management activities.
Officials stressed that taking part in the Suzhou Civility Code was voluntary. Still, the scheme was met with scepticism and outrage on the internet.
