Godfree Roberts says:

China’s ongoing Social Credit experiments enjoy overwhelming popular support. Ask a Chinese friend why and he will explain.

That program, when it is finally legislated, will in no way resemble Western, monarchical methods of social control, which are as old as monarchy itself.

China’s Social Credit program outsources the task of keeping corporations and government departments accountable in real time to the public who, in Mao’s words, “Have sharp eyes”.

For individual citizens, it is 90% carrot and 10% stick– the stick being embarrassment and inconvenience.

Not so for companies and government officials, both of which can suffer loss of licenses and careers if a sufficient number of citizens condemn the way they do business.

Its impact will be similar to that of the Cultural Revolution, which emancipated 400 million peasants by teaching them to read, write, and vote.

It’s a commercial emancipation, that really does give power to the people.