There's not much difference to the person being stifled, at least, not initially. There's a huge difference between a government being able to send the police

There's not much difference to the person being stifled, at least, not initially. There's a huge difference between a government being able to send the police in broad daylight to do its bidding and beat you up or jail you for breaking the "subversive speech law" vs having to deal with some bureaucratic agency making you jump through endless hoops trying to get your group's 501c tax status. That's all before you even think about getting into a courtroom.