Surveillance in digitalized society : the Chinese social credit system from a European perspective

The modern society is facing multiple new challenges brought by digitalisation, globalisation and personalisation. Public disorder and social tensions are increasingly suppressed by progressive surveillance and control mechanisms that utilize the ICT technology and digital footprint of an individual. For some time now, a heated discussion follows the planned introduction of Social Credit System in the People’s Republic of China. Multitude of authors and journalists argue benefits or threats related to this project. The aim of this contribution is to provide sober-minded overview of this mechanism in its broader context and point out similarities and differences from approaches in the West. As a result, the contribution points out a set of specifics of the Chinese setting, which make similar mechanism unfeasible in European environment.