China blocks passengers from taking 11 million flights and 4 million train trips because of bad behaviour

China has blocked air and rail passengers from taking more than 15 million trips, it has been reported.

The country’s state-run newspaper the Global Times said China’s “social credit system” had blocked people from taking 11.14 million flights and 4.25 million high-speed train journeys.

The figures were published at the end of April but it is unclear what offences were committed by those banned from travelling.

However, when China announced earlier this year that it would extend its social credit system to rail and air travel, a list of possible offences were released.

This included spreading false information about terrorism, causing trouble on flights, using expired tickets and smoking on trains.

Away from airports and train stations, China’s social credit system has been used to slow offenders’ internet speeds and block them from taking out a loan.

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There are more than a dozen national blacklists of people who have committed what is viewed as bad behaviour by the state.

It is unclear which of these lists has led to millions of rail and air bans, but it has been reported that it might be because they are in debt.

When it announced two months ago that the social credit system would be extended to travel, China said those who have committed financial wrongdoings, such as employers who failed to pay social insurance or people who have failed to pay fines, would face restrictions.

The move is in line with President’s Xi Jinping’s plan to construct a social credit system based on the principle of “once untrustworthy, always restricted”.

China has flagged plans to roll out a system that will allow government bodies to share information on its citizens’ trustworthiness and issue penalties based on a so-called social credit score.

However, there are signs that the use of social credit scoring on domestic transport could have started years ago. In early 2017, the country’s Supreme People’s Court said during a press conference that 6.15 million Chinese citizens had been banned from taking flights for social misdeeds.