Digital Riba and Algorithmic Finance: Challenges of Digitized Usury in China’s Integrated Payment Landscape

Öz

This paper investigates the phenomenon of "Digital Riba"—the digitization and algorithmic facilitation of usurious lending practices—within China's highly integrated platform-based financial ecosystem. It posits that the convergence of ubiquitous digital payments, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence has not only scaled but also structurally transformed exploitative credit, embedding it seamlessly into daily transactional and social platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay. This integration normalizes debt acquisition, while AI-driven personalization enables hyper-efficient, potentially predatory targeting of financial vulnerabilities. The analysis reveals that prevailing regulatory frameworks, focused primarily on static interest rate caps, are conceptually outpaced by these socio-technical systems. Addressing Digital Riba therefore necessitates a governance paradigm shift beyond usury laws towards holistic regulation of algorithmic fairness, data sovereignty, and the ethical design of financial ecosystems themselves. The Chinese case offers critical insights into the global challenges of governing finance in the age of platform capitalism and artificial intelligence.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• artificial intelligence
• digital riba
• China
• digital integration

Dijital Riba ve Algoritmik Finans: Çin'in Entegre Ödeme Ortamında Dijitalleştirilmiş Tefeciliğin Zorlukları

Öz

Bu makale, Çin'in son derece entegre platform tabanlı finansal ekosisteminde “Dijital Riba” fenomenini, yani tefecilik uygulamalarının dijitalleşmesi ve algoritmik olarak kolaylaştırılmasını incelemektedir. Makale, yaygın dijital ödemeler, büyük veri analitiği ve yapay zekanın bir araya gelmesinin, sömürücü kredileri sadece ölçeklendirmekle kalmayıp, aynı zamanda yapısal olarak da dönüştürdüğünü ve bunları Alipay ve WeChat Pay gibi günlük işlem ve sosyal platformlara sorunsuz bir şekilde entegre ettiğini öne sürmektedir. Bu entegrasyon, borçlanmayı normalleştirirken, yapay zeka odaklı kişiselleştirme, finansal zayıflıkların hiper verimli ve potansiyel olarak sömürücü bir şekilde hedeflenmesini mümkün kılmaktadır. Analiz, esas olarak statik faiz oranı sınırlamalarına odaklanan mevcut düzenleyici çerçevelerin, kavramsal olarak bu sosyo-teknik sistemler tarafından geride bırakıldığını ortaya koymaktadır. Bu nedenle, Dijital Riba'yı ele almak, tefecilik yasalarının ötesinde, algoritmik adalet, veri egemenliği ve finansal ekosistemlerin kendilerinin etik tasarımı konusunda bütüncül bir düzenlemeye yönelik bir yönetişim paradigması değişikliğini gerektirmektedir. Çin örneği, platform kapitalizmi ve yapay zeka çağında finansın yönetilmesindeki küresel zorluklara ilişkin önemli içgörüler sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• yapay zeka
• dijital riba
• Çin
• dijital entegrasyon

Kaynakça

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