Perhaps I'm misunderstanding a lot here? The article title flat-out says the "social credit score isn't real", and then outlines in a nuanced way exactly how i

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding a lot here? The article title flat-out says the "social credit score isn't real", and then outlines in a nuanced way exactly how it is real. Sure, there is plenty of negative rhetoric that surrounds the topic, but at best what I can understand here is that there is no (verified) single aggregate score being leveraged against anyone...? I'm not sure how this distinction is meaningful?