China has launched an app that notifies its users if there is someone in debt within 500 meters of their location.
According China Daily, a state-owned newspaper, officials in the Chinese province of Hebei created the app, dubbed ‘ Map of deadbeat debtors’ , which can be accessed through China’s most popular instant-messaging platform ‘WeChat’.
The app alerts users with a flash light when they are within 500 meters of someone who is in debt. It also shows the exact location of the debtor.
According to reports, the app will provides users with a map and on-screen radar tracking of debtors whose exact locations are marked with pins.
China Daily said it would let people ‘whistle-blow on debtors capable of paying their debts.’
The app has been designed with an aim of enabling citizens to monitor people in debt.
However it is not clear how much debt a person must have in order to be highlighted or whether the app will be capable of displaying any personal information on the radar.
Chinese authorities have been using variety of techniques to force debtors to pay up. Initially the authorities used to deploy method of showing debtors faces and names during short clips played in cinemas before the main screening.
The app development has so far been received with mixed reactions as majority of users raising concerns about privacy policy.