China’s social credit systems are still in development – but many are already stirring controversy.

Early social credit systems that have been rolled out in certain Chinese cities are impacting citizens’ ability to borrow money, access social services and even take out books from local libraries.

An in-depth Caixin story explains:

“As personal credit ratings become ubiquitous in Chinese people’s everyday lives, criticism of the local rating systems is mounting. Applying nonfinancial data to credit decisions isn’t fair, and neither is using social credit scores to determine access to social services, some critics say. And the potential for data leaks from the massive scoring systems could put many millions of Chinese people at risk.”

Read the story in full here.