We use the internet in a similar way that we see in the movie.
Shop: Lacie buys an apartment online
Socialize: Lacie sends texts, calls, and uses social media
Learning :Ryan finds Lacie researching a new apartment
Enter Virtual Worlds: Ryan gaming at the start of the movie
This dystopia uses the internet very similar to the way that we use the internet, however, the technology is more advanced. A defining feature of this movie is the heavy use of social media to influence a social credit system. This system is set up so that social media "matters" in your day to day life.
The government allows for point discrimination because it deems a low score as useless to the society. In return, businesses are allowed to reward those with a high score. This is similar to a point system in China. By the government allowing businesses to take advantage of this point system, they do not need to worry about setting up a technologically advanced system for internet filtering as the citizens will "filter" themselves as to not lower their own scores.
Through the movie, we see beautiful landscapes, but at the end when Lacie is forced to remove the retina technology she looks at dust in the air as if its her first time seeing dust. We inferred that the retina technology had some sort of filtering tool to censor the citizens' view of the world.
Lacie is not allowed to curse at the airport and is significantly punished when she does. This is an example of lack of self censorship. Normally, a citizen in this world would censor themselves as to not hurt their score, and through Lacie's actions, we see the effects of the lack of censorship.
Free speech is allowed in this dystopia, however you will be greeted with low points if that speech is not the popular opinion. Susan is a great example of this; She was a point abiding citizen until she experienced point discrimination, leading to her nosedive. She is now a citizen that proudly states her opinions even if they are unpopular, she has a low score, but she is one of the nicest characters in the movie. This movie puts free speech in good light because this person is kind, even though she is marked as a borderline criminal.
Much of this dystopia's concept revolves around reviewing people. It is proper etiquette to give a high review in return for a high review. This sort of etiquette creates a culture where fake reviews are common. The use of fake reviews in this movie is used in a similar fashion to our way of using fake reviews; to make the public think the product is better than it is.
The nature of the point system encourages internet addiction, in almost every scene we can see someone on their phone using social media