China wants social scores and penalties in metaverse

Can Chinese say goodbye to digital freedom? China also wants to fully monitor and control the metaverse.

China wants control of the Metaverse - with a kind of digital social credit system. This reports the news magazine Politico.

According to the report, state-owned China Mobile is proposing digital identities for online worlds and metaverses. They are intended to contain and share information with authorities, such as a person's occupation.

In addition: a form of digital social credit system. It rewards or punishes people's behavior with points and ranks them. In China, such a system is already used in everyday life.

Punishments for spreading "rumors" or causing "chaos" in the metaverse were cited as examples. Digital ID should make the person identifiable and punishable.

Rewards in the current social credit system include "praising the government on social media," "doing charity work" or "not being in debt." Punishments include "being a member of anti-government religious groups," "running a red light" or "not visiting your parents regularly."

For example, the point value determines which places in China you are allowed to live. Authorities can also deny you the right to use public transportation or fly. Whether the digital social credit system will lead to similar penalties remains to be seen.

Cryptocurrencies are banned in China. Instead, it encourages the distribution of its own digital central bank currency, the e-yuan. This is considered highly controversial. Read more here.