In the contemporary landscape of information control, the rise of “spin dictatorships” or informational autocracies highlights how state actors, economic elites, and technological platforms cooperate to sustain mass persuasion. Rather than relying primarily on repression, these regimes manage information, engineer public discourse, and cultivate perceived legitimacy while preserving a façade of democratic competition. Equipped with advanced digital technologies, they shape public opinion through sophisticated media control and polarization. Building on the concept of informational autocracy, this presentation examines how leaders manipulate media ecosystems, exploit algorithm-driven communication, and instrumentalize social divisions. Despite institutional differences, the psychological and communicative dynamics of persuasion can be strikingly similar in different environments. Fragmented media systems, partisan echo chambers, and identity-based mobilization create fertile ground for disinformation. Moving beyond a supply-side understanding of propaganda, the presentation emphasizes the demand for deceit. Citizens are not merely passive victims; many embrace narratives that affirm their identities and grievances. In polarized contexts, information is processed through group loyalty rather than factual accuracy, reinforcing motivated reasoning. Informational autocratization emerges within democracies as well when actors normalize disinformation and erode epistemic standards. Hungary illustrates how media capture and centralized resources can transform competition into a persuasion machine- with some limitations. The United States demonstrates how polarization and market-driven media logics can generate similar informational distortions without centralized control. The real challenge in an era of attitude engineering – driven by the combined influence of big tech and big politics – is to preserve genuinely democratic decision making, which presupposes that citizens can make informed and free choices. The broader implications of this challenge are discussed at the end of the presentation.

RSVP Agnes Bendik at bendikag@ceu.edu