TOM: This is a YouTube video from a future.
Not the future. Just a future.
NARRATOR: From January, every citizen of England and Wales will have a new social credit score.
Government and private companies may use your social credit score to make decisions about you.
For example, your score could affect the deposit you're asked to pay when renting a home.
It could also give you discounts when you're shopping,
put you in the priority queue for a new passport,
or help you access some healthcare services more quickly.
Your social credit score is based on information that the government already knows:
the electoral roll, tax payments, criminal records, property ownership, and travel history.
If you want to increase your score, you can choose to share more personal information
securely with our certified partner companies.
Information like your credit card purchases,
communications and health information from your phone,
energy use data from your smart meter,
and your viewing and listening history from streaming companies.
That information helps our carefully selected machine learning systems
trust you, your friends, and your family.
Plus, you can get fun tips on how to increase your score on the Social Credit app.
Your social credit score is also affected by
the scores of the people you live, work, and spend time with.
Everyone's score is public by default.
You can check it on the Social Credit app,
so you can make informed decisions about your life.
You can hide your score, but in some cases this may cause it to drop.
Some things, like disruptive actions, hiding your data trail,
or making decisions that harm others,
could lower your score over time.
If this happens, you may find it harder to access certain government and private services.
So if you have an old housemate, friend or relative
that you don't spend time with any more,
you may want to file a formal Notice of Disassociation on the Social Credit app.
If you're a dual citizen of Scotland, or any other European Union nation,
then privacy laws mean we can't give you a social credit score.
Because of that, your access to some government and private services may be limited.
If you're a citizen of Google, Facebook, or another corporation,
please refer to their support pages for advice.
Social credit scores, from the Department for Community and Culture.
Helping us to help you.