How The West Misunderstands The Social Credit System

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In the West, we are always warned about China’s high-tech “social credit score” system, but does this dystopian AI-powered surveillance system actually exist?

Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:00 China’s crisis of trust
8:50 Thank you Raycon
9:55 The 3 Pillars of Social Credit
17:30 When the system hits real people

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References (Academic papers and Web Articles)
State Council of the People's Republic of China. 2014. 国务院关于印发社会信用体系建设规划纲要（2014—2020年）的通知. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2014-06/27/content_8913.htm
Daum, J. 2019. Keeping track of social credit. [online] Available at: https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/keeping-track-of-social-credit/#gsc.tab=0
Stockman, D. Luo, T. 2025. The Role of Companies in the Social Credit System. [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009360692.008
Guo, H. 2025. The Social Credit System in China and Its Impact on Society and Its Concrete Implementation Using the Example of the Alipay Payment Platform. [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.24158/tipor.2025.3.9
Reis, A. Press, L. 2021. Sesame Credit: Social Compliance Gamification in China. [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.21512/jggag.v4i1.7239
Zhang, S. Yu, Y. Li, X. Peng, W. Tao, Y. 2025. The role of credit in business: Social credit and entrepreneurship in China. [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2025.11.003
Chong, G. 2019. Cashless China: Securitization of everyday life through Alipay’s social credit system—Sesame Credit. [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750.2019.1583261
Kuo, K. 2022. How China’s laws and social credit system actually work, explained by Jeremy Daum. [online] Available at: https://thechinaproject.com/2022/02/03/how-chinas-laws-and-social-credit-system-actually-work-explained-by-jeremy-daum/
Stockman, D. Luo, T. 2025. Citizens and the Social Credit System. [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009360692.009
Daum, J. 2019. Getting Rongcheng Right. [online] Available at: https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/getting-rongcheng-right/#gsc.tab=0
Bayer, J. Vasilyeva, V. Vetrenko, I. 2020. The Social Credit System of the People’s Republic of China through the Eyes of Foreign Researchers. [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.22394/1726-1139-2020-7-20-31
Li, G. 2021. State Control by Stealth in the Big Data Era – From WeChat to the Social Credit System in China. [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.18080/jtde.v9n4.443
Daum, J. 2018. The redlists are coming! The blacklists are coming! [online] Available at: https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/the-redlists-are-coming-the-blacklists-are-coming/#gsc.tab=0

Additional Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSbiKbiXsxT_UdbepC_FXzbNvOeB3YFmspnLyXZgFVl9yF3wHEjeG-fOEUrFXmOY7aBdJv4q0R0MCa2/pub

Visual Sources:
ABC Australia’s Video on Social Credit https://youtu.be/Ps0Si4FhOPM?si=RAvkSHo3UUZYOmPq
Jeremy Daum’s Interview talking about Social Credit https://youtu.be/Sn1tPK-9B_A?si=zEdtBL11t2hhFc3a
Tor's Cabinet of Curiosities vid on Social Credit https://youtu.be/wYaKoDyIvWA?si=U9OqH9-YsgBD1USW
NBC’s misleading video on social credit https://youtu.be/0cGB8dCDf3c?si=2FNpRwBYcoW_40Xc

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Thanks again for watching and Happy Holidays! See you in 2026 ????

Tags:
video essay, cultural commentary, social commentary, internet analysis, analysis video, Chinese society explained, social credit, social credit system, credit socre, sesame credit, arcane, alibaba, china authoritarian, china protest, surveillance state, xu xiaodong, black mirror, xi jingping, tencent, East Asian culture, China, East Asia, storytime documentary, China explained, aini, jgao, dumanity, klaize