BEIJING—Beijing’s municipal government will assign citizens and firms “personal trustworthiness points” by 2021, state media reported on Nov. 20, pioneering China’s controversial plan for a “social credit” system to monitor citizens and businesses.
The system’s rollout has attracted international headlines, sparking comparisons to George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” with critics saying it could massively heighten the Chinese Communist Party’s already strict control over society.
