Line just went Orwellian on Japanese users with its social credit scoring system
Line just went Orwellian on Japanese users with its social credit scoring system
By Michael Grothaus
June 27, 2019
Line Score will use AI to give a social credit score to Line
users. The strength of their social credit score will allow them to get access
to better special deals and offers that Line users with lower social credit
scores will not have access to.
While the new
product is unnerving, it’s not completely out of character for Line. Recently
the company has been positioning itself as a fintech provider, and its Line Pay
digital wallet system is wildly popular in Japan. Line Pay also allows users to
shop for insurance and allows them to invest in personal portfolios. Line Score
builds on top of Line Pay by offering those with higher scores better perks.
However, before George Orwell rolls over in his grave, it’s
important to note that Line stresses Line Score is opt-in only and that the
company will never share a user’s Line Score with third parties without the
user’s permission and it will not read a user’s online chats to determine their
Line Score. Still, it’s unnerving that tech companies seem to think that social
credit ratings are the next big thing for now. Hopefully, this is a trend that
will not catch on.
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