It's not scary at all but MSM is pretending it is as they don't want to know the true scale of the epidemic because then Big Pharma might lose money if their products were linked to it. MSM is very dependent on Big Pharma advertising money, it goes without saying. This canard is trotted out again in the article you linked to:

"It has been described by Kennedy as an "epidemic" he claims is spurred more by environmental toxins than genetics. A number of autism researchers have disagreed with his theory, adding that increased awareness of ASD has contributed to higher known levels of prevalence."

This is basically "nothing to see here, move along now!" Good public health requires true reporting of the scale of diseases in society. I don't see how that is 'authoritarian'. Vaccine mandates are though, which the US had plenty of, shamefully.