Authoritarian regimes PREFER that most of their citizens are in violation of some small, stupid, or obviously nonsense law. It gives people false confidence of

Authoritarian regimes PREFER that most of their citizens are in violation of some small, stupid, or obviously nonsense law. It gives people false confidence of "well sure it's horrible on paper but nobody goes to jail for that" It releases some of the pressure from such oppressive regimes If you ever want to crack down on it, your supporters can lean on the "but but but it's always been the law" apologetics (see illegally deporting people suspected of being illegal aliens) And the best reason of all, if everyone is violating a law, you have carte blanche to attack anyone you want with the full force of the law. You aren't arresting that annoying Journalist or Politician for their speech or views, you are putting a criminal in jail!