...First, an informational autocracy refrains from using violence and direct repression against its opponents. Independent journalists are not jailed, nor are NGOs formally banned, even though their phones might be tapped. Second, the regime efficiently mimics most of the institutions of democracy, creating a façade that leaves international observers concluding that elections were "free but unfair". Third, the regime's narratives, while lacking support among highly educated elites are so deeply embedded among less educated and less privileged groups that it can safely rely on their support

This system [telecommunication P&E?] relies on "hardware" and "software". From a hardware perspective, it depends on the most centralised and controlled media system within the EU. The second Orbán government, which took power in 2010, gave rise to a government-organized media empire in which more than 500 regional and local outlets all echo the same centrally crafted messages. In 2019, Reporters Without Borders said it found in Hungary "a degree of media control unprecedented in an EU member state".

On the software side, fake news and conspiracy theories are rife. Hungarian pro-Fidesz media outlets frequently propagate Kremlin lines on the war in Ukraine, and push false stories on issues like migration, the influence of the international financier George Soros, NATO and the United States, and the so-called Western "liberal elite"....