That Was Actually Pretty Good For Still Drinking At 6am.

For the purposes of the UK Online Safety Act (2023) "Harmful Content" is defined by the Minister of the day, an obviously political position.

In UK law these are know as; "Henry VIII Powers." That battle between Absolute Monarchy and Constitutional Monarchy which forced Brazil's Emperor Pedro I to abdicate and returned to Portugal.

More widely used terms for it are; "Executive Order" or; "Diktat." As used by Deodoro da Fonseca during The Republic of the Sword.

The biggest problem with explaining China's Social Credit System is that it doesn't have one.

The general idea was actually part of Deng Xiaoping's early reforms. A way for subsistence farmers to access bank accounts and use money for the very first time in the history of their entire families. It was not unlike the Microcredit system that Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Prize for.

In the months after 9/11, while Old Slowhead Tony was trying to convince us we needed Vaccine Passports to protect us from terror, China launched a pilot program to expand Deng Xiaoping's idea in both scope and geographic reach.

Seeking the consent of its population China still hasn't completed consultations on those pilot programs. So China actually has an annoyingly long list of different Social Credit Systems. Some operated at the State level, some operated at the City level and some run by private companies.

For example in Shanghai if you don't visit your Grandparents often enough they can sue you. If they win a Court judgment against that will lower your Social Credit Score. Exactly like how a County Court Judgement (CCJ) or US equivalent will damage a bad debtor's Credit Score.

Although to me that sounds like an Asian thing, rather than a Communist thing it only applies in Shanghai. It doesn't apply in Beijing, or anywhere else in China.

Deng Xiaoping also adopted the concept of; "Scientific Socialism" from Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, possibly the World's most famous Anarchist or; "Libertarian-Socialist."

Through; "The Brutalist" (2024) we looked at the "Social-Engineering" of; "Totalitarian-Socialists," Comparing it to the; "Social Ecology" of Libertarian -Socialists like Murray Bookchin.

Launched a few years after the Social Credit System pilots and intertwined with them China adopted its; "Grid-style Social Management." Which looks like an attempt to Socially Engineer Bookchin-style Social Ecology. Social Credit Systems are seen as a way to rebuild the bonds of trust between neighbours that were destroyed under Chairman Mao.

Although, looking at that audience I have to wonder whether it's even worth trying to explain it.

https://twitterwithbraincells.blogspot.com/2025/12/apparently-he-served-in-afghan-zero.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oyVgYWYfLA (Zero The Hero, Black Sabbath, Official Audio).