The internet was less free and open for users around the world last year, the human rights advocacy organization Freedom House said Wednesday — a trajectory that has the potential to worsen if artificial intelligence tools are used in undemocratic ways.

The organization’s 13th annual Freedom on the Net report is a worldwide survey ranking digital rights in 70 countries, based on metrics such as the prevalence of censorship, disinformation campaigns, surveillance, punishments for online speech, and more. This iteration of the report covered June 2022 through May of this year.

Last year set multiple troubling records, including for the number of countries — 55 total — where people faced legal trouble because of their online speech. Governments in a record 41 countries restricted access to websites “hosting political, social, and religious speech.”