Following Rome, the Italian city of Bologna recently announced plans to implement a pilot program for a social credit system, which will reward citizens for what they call “virtuous” behavior.
The municipal administration, including the city’s mayor, Matteo Lepore, and “digital agenda” director, Massimo Bugani, presented the controversial “Smart Citizen Wallet” on March 29th at a press conference on digital innovation.
According to reports, the “Smart Citizen Wallet” currently has a strong focus on “promoting climate-friendly behavior” and will reward citizens for things such as recycling, taking public transportation, avoiding tickets, and managing energy usage. A person’s score will then provide them with benefits such as discounts, cultural activities, and more.
Despite the city’s insistence that “no one will be forced to participate” in the social credit system, many are sounding the alarm about the dangers of its implementation, saying it could easily be expanded and abused by governing authorities.
After learning of the city’s intention to implement the system, Privacy Network, an Italian organization that seeks to “bring privacy and digital rights—to the general public,” issued a statement warning about the legal, ethical, and social ramifications of the “Smart Citizen Wallet.”
“These practices, if poorly developed or used, can also lead to serious limitations and violations of citizens’ rights and freedoms, as well as discriminatory practices, also pursued through technological means, such as ‘social credit’ systems (or social scoring),” the statement stressed. “Our concern is increased by the fact that similar systems have already been introduced in other Italian cities as well; first of all in Rome, where the Smart Citizen Wallet is already being tested.”
Many are comparing the “Smart Citizen Wallet” to China’s social credit system, which punishes and rewards members of society based on what they determine to be good or bad conduct.
According to The Hill, “China’s social credit system is a combination of government and business surveillance that gives citizens a ‘score’ that can restrict the ability of individuals to take actions — such as purchasing plane tickets, acquiring property or taking loans — because of behaviors.”
An Italian author, Beatrice Silenzi, warned that potentially under the Italian system, as is already the case in China, “citizens will be assessed on the basis of obedience to the municipal administration.”
The well-scoring person “will become a Serie A citizen, enjoying greater rights than everyone else,” Silenzi cautioned.
Concern is mounting that more regions and governments will soon decide to jump on the bandwagon by adopting their own social credit systems to supposedly battle various “social issues.”
Similar to the new Italian pilot program, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Mastercard joined forces in 2021 under the guise of combating so-called “climate change,” to create their own social credit system.
The UNFCCC and Mastercard designed a new kind of credit card, which received overflowing praise from the World Economic Forum, that helps users take “responsibility for every transaction” by having their spending monitored and cut off when their “carbon max” has been reached.
Examining Biblical Prophecy sheds startling light on the question of whether a social credit system will be used and abused by governments in the future.
In the book of Revelation, the Bible warns readers that a global government will form on earth in the future and that its leader will restrict the rights of citizens to buy and sell based on their submission to him and his government (Rev. 13). This leader, the “antichrist,” will demand that “all kindreds, and tongues, and nations” worship him and accept his “mark” during the seven-year tribulation:
Revelation 13:16-17 KJV – “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” (read more about the mark of the beast — here).
The implementation of social credit scoring systems, the globalists’ push toward “abandon[ing] the traditional system of money” in exchange for digital, and the public conditioning to accept such government overreach, should be eye-opening. It demonstrates that this antichrist system, described in Scripture, is brazenly at the door.
As Christian author Jonathan Brentner recently explained, amid all of the agenda-driven deception, there is good news for those who know Christ and have accepted His free gift of Salvation.
“The good news is that the Lord will come for us before the start of the Tribulation and the appearance of the antichrist upon the world scene,” he underscored. “All of those in Christ will miss all of the wrath of the day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11), this is the assurance of biblical prophecy.”
Jesus tells Christians, “when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).
