Uganda Imposes Social Media Tax To ‘Stop Gossip’

Social media can be used for good or bad. For example we’ve seen instances of how social media can help return a lost pet to its owner, but it can also be used for the bad where we’ve seen how social media can be used to bully others online, creating a mob-like mentality. This is why Uganda thinks imposing a social media tax could be one way to manage it.

The country’s parliament has recently passed a somewhat controversial law that will impose a daily levy of 200 shilling (around $0.05) on its citizens who use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Viber, and so on. According to President Yoweri Museveni, he argued that social media apparently encourages gossip, so by imposing a tax, it is hoped that users will be more responsible with their social media use.

It is an interesting approach and it does seem like a radical solution to the problem, although many have since questioned how such a tax will be implemented. Will it be enabled for all customers of ISPs and carriers by default? Or is it on a per-use case, where upon detection that the person has accessed social media, they will then be billed for the entire day? Either way we’ll have to wait and see how this pans out.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, viber, Whatsapp