Commentary The Chinese social credit system is a form of data-driven tyranny. It’s social engineering in its most technologically advanced form. A Great Leap Forward for despotic rulers, but a Great Leap Back for broader society. Resistance, as the Chinese citizens know only too well, is futile; participation is mandatory. Could a similar system be rolled out elsewhere? Most definitely. The Spectator UK’s Ross Clark warns that the British government is set to introduce an expansive app that seeks to monitor a person’s purchasing habits, exercise routines (or lack thereof), as well as their “intake of fruit and vegetables.” The government will reward the obedient with “virtue points.” The disobedient, meanwhile, could find themselves punished. When does the nudge effect become abuse? When citizens of a country are “monitored like pieces of an industrial plant,” to quote Clark. Although the slippery slope argument has its critics, it’s not difficult to imagine how such an app, overseen by government …