The names of the individuals were posted on the website "Credit China" Friday as part of China's National Development and Reforms Commission's social credit system established in Beijing in 2014. It has since spread to other cities. The country enforces the credit system by deploying artificial intelligence and surveillance cameras to monitor peoples' actions. The ruling Communist Party of China is planning to expand the credit system nationwide by 2020.
Under the system, every Chinese citizen in Beijing is given a rating based on their public behavior and financial history. The purpose of the credit system is to "allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step," according to a planning document published by China Copyright and Media. The names of banned passengers are searchable on the Credit China website.
According to the South China Morning Post, the 169 blacklisted people committed offenses like trying to take a lighter through airport security, smoking on a high-speed train, evading taxes and not paying fines. One of the people blacklisted is Jia Yueting, founder of Shenzhen-listed tech firm LeEco, who was placed on a credit blacklist in December.
Although China had blocked more than 11 million flights and 3 million high-speed train trips by poorly rated citizens by the end of April, this is the first time the country has published a nationwide list of names of those socially discredited. The government plans to update the list every month, the South China Morning Post reported.
Starting July 1, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism is also planning to create a platform to regulate the country's tourism industry, according to Xinhua. Although there is limited information on the platform's role, it will be mostly be used by customers to file complaints about travel agencies and tour guides, Xinhua reported.
