Authoritarians have learned to weaponize data protection, cyber-sovereignty, and disinformation laws. In India (2024), amendments to the Information Technology Rules empowered the government to flag “fake news” through a fact-checking unit—a power used overwhelmingly against opposition figures. Hungary’s 2025 “Sovereignty Protection Act” criminalized foreign funding for media and NGOs, using vague terms that Scheppele called “a legal bazooka aimed at civil society.”
: Autocratic legalism is the most potent threat to modern democracy because it uses the tools of democracy (elections and law) to destroy democratic accountability from within. II. The "Frankenstate" Concept Borrowing Mechanisms autocratic legalism kim lane scheppele upd