You're not wrong about "regime" - it's used to belittle governments that someone doesn't agree with. It doesn't even apply just for dictatorships, i.e the previ

You're not wrong about "regime" - it's used to belittle governments that someone doesn't agree with. It doesn't even apply just for dictatorships, i.e the previous Iraqi administration was (and still is by The Economist) referred to as an "authoritarian regime" by some even though it is a multi-party representative democracy with almost full autonomy in the North with peaceful transitions of power across all areas of government. If someone were to call the current American government a regime then they're likely dog whistling[0] and it reflects the editorial slant of the writer and/or the publication. But it's worth keeping in mind that Gizmodo is just another tech blog and, having worked for one before, I can say that the focus is on churning out more clickbait crap rather than producing anything with substance. The person who wrote it probably has no real understanding of journalism and doesn't understand the implications of the words chosen - they got the job just because they have some half-decent level of grammar. And the editor who approved it probably focused more on the title than the content. So don't think too much about it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics