Should your social credit score determine your eligibility for renting homes?

A social credit score refers to a system that aggregates data about an individual’s behavior—including online activity, financial transactions, reviews, and compliance with laws or contracts—to generate a numerical or categorical rating of trustworthiness. While most countries rely on conventional credit scores based primarily on financial history, the idea of expanding scoring to encompass broader aspects of personal conduct has gained attention, especially with advances in big data and algorithmic profiling. The most well-known example is China’s evolving social credit framework, piloted in the early 2010s, where both individuals and companies are rated based on factors like debt repayment, contractual honesty, and even social behaviors such as spreading misinformation or disturbing public order. Though often portrayed as a single unified system, in practice it consists of many regional and sectoral programs, some operated by private companies and others by government agencies. In other parts of the world, versions of this idea already exist on a smaller scale. For example, platforms like Airbnb and Uber collect user ratings that influence access to services. Tenant screening companies in the U.S. and Europe compile rental histories, court records, and sometimes social media activity to help landlords assess applicants.