>> But the distinction is that in-group requires blind obedience in authoritarian countries

That's not true. It requires wilful ignorance in some cases, but sometimes not even that.

Take, for example, russian troll farms. They initially were made to shift in-group opinion, because in-group started to a. get mad at Putin, b. reaching the conclusion that most of the in-group was dissatisfied and something had to be done.

Small forums in Russia (and HN is a small forum) aren't even monitored, but you can find abusive and violent language towards politicians in big social russian networks pretty easily.

So you can be in-group for authority and think yourself a free-thinker who isn't afraid to say the truth and cyberbully the president.