Imagine you’re walking along the street in what is the equivalent to Times Square and suddenly your face pops up on a giant, luminous billboard screen for everyone to see; but it’s nothing flattering – it’s a picture of you jaywalking or walking home after drinking; possibly even a picture of you littering.

Suddenly, everyone knows who you are and what you’ve done. The picture spares nothing: it has your unfiltered picture, name, and credit number. This sounds baffling in the United States, but in China, it’s the everyday norm.

Since 2014, the Chinese government has had plans to implement a “social credit system” that would be released in 2020. But what is a social credit system? According to Wired UK, the social credit system is a way for citizens to either be rewarded or punished for their actions. These actions are tracked using a government issued app that is involuntarily installed on every phone and has every Chinese citizen on record.

Social credit works in a manner equivalent to how regular credit works, i.e., making payments on loans, paying bills early or on time, etc. However, instead of making payments or paying off debt, social credit considers your everyday behavior. Do you cross the street on green? Are you stealing? Did you assist an elderly woman cross the road? Anything and everything count towards your social credit in China. Every good deed earns a boost in credit, meaning you have the privilege to fly, travel, buy luxurious goods, have access to certain services, and much more.

However, no bad deed flies under the radar, either. With over 700 million CCTV cameras scattered throughout China, everyone’s every move is recorded. Foul language and inappropriate actions can negatively impact your credit scores – and your life.

The government can blacklist citizens from traveling inside or outside of China. Citizens cannot access certain services and may even end up banned from some everyday run of the mill places. Social credit affects more than just your finances, it affects the Chinese population’s basic functions of life.

China’s overall goal for the social credit system is to maintain a substantially tamed population and society. By publicly humiliating and/or revoking the rights of its tainted citizens, China remains optimistic about achieving this goal. The deck is stacked in China’s favor because many Chinese citizens heavily support the social credit system.

By achieving the goal of a perfect society, China hopes to prove its superiority over other countries around the world. While the social credit system is still in the early stages of development, it’s not far from reaching its final form within the next few years.

Just think of it – in its beta form, China’s social credit system is already this advanced. Who’s to say what its future holds? And what’s in store for us?