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A new social media revenue tax has taken effect in Uganda, which has angered many who see the measure as an attack on freedom of expression.
The tax on users of sites such as Facebook was first proposed by Yoweri Museveni, a long-time leader who complained of online gossip in a March letter asking the Minister of Finance to raise funds to deal with the consequences.
In addition to the usual data charges, social media users now have to pay a daily prepayment of six cents to access all social media sites
. as of July 1, the tax would be levied on "Over The Top" services, including access to websites such as Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. The tax will be deducted by the service providers who will then pay to the government revenue service.
Many Ugandans are "bitter" because the tax "was brought in bad faith," said Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, a prominent human rights lawyer.
"The reasons were anti-people, anti-social, not development-oriented," he said Monday.
Amnesty International has urged the Ugandan authorities to abolish the tax, calling it an "obvious attempt to undermine the right to freedom of expression" in East African countries
] "By charging people to use these platforms, making these channels of communication inaccessible to low-income people, depriving many people of their right to freedom of expression, with a crippling effect on other human rights." Man, "said the group in a statement issued Monday by Joan Nyanyuki
.Uses Internet
According to the tax on social media, the government hopes to raise about $ 136 million for the Ongoing exercise About 17 million of the 41 million Ugandans are active users of the Internet, according to government figures.
This is not the first time the government Ugandan takes wide measures considered a barrier to the use of social media in the country.
In February 2016, while Ugandans voted in a tight presidential election, officials blocked access to Facebook and Twitter, citing unspecified security threats. This poll, won by Museveni, was tainted with allegations of fraud and late delivery of voting materials in some opposition strongholds.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni expresses himself during a visit to Juba in South Sudan in May. He first proposed the social media tax, complaining of online gossip in a March 19659014 letter (1965-90) (Museveni, who took power by force in 1981 and remains a ally of the United States on regional security). for nearly five decades after lawmakers last year pbaded a bill removing an age limit to the presidency. Museveni, who is 73, would have been ineligible to run again under a constitutional provision that barred anyone aged 75 and over from holding the presidency.
The dropping of the age barrier has reinforced the charges of opponents who say that Museveni wants to reign for life. "Many Ugandans have been indifferent to the ills of the Museveni regime but now that they are directly taxed, they will probably wake up and start wondering how their taxes are spent," said Gerald Bareebe, a university researcher who regularly uses social media. "And I think if Ugandans learn how their money is wasted by corruption, they will put pressure on the regime for it to change."
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