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Uganda Rolls Out a 5-Cent Daily Tax To Access Social Media (time.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the nickel-and-dime dept.

The government of Uganda is taxing social media users at a rate of 5 cents per day, which does not include the usual data fees. "The tax on users of sites such as Facebook was first proposed by long-time leader Yoweri Museveni, who complained of online gossip in a March letter that urged finance minister to raise money 'to cope with the consequences,'" reports Time. From the report: Service providers, including regional telecommunications giant MTN, said in a joint statement Sunday that starting July 1 the levy would be charged on "Over The Top services," including access to websites such as Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. The tax will be deducted by service providers that will then pay to the government revenue service. Amnesty International urged Ugandan authorities to scrap the tax, calling it "a clear attempt to undermine the right to freedom of expression" in the East African country. From the social media levy the government hopes to collect about Shs400 billion (about $100 million) in the current financial year.

16 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory by pr0t0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Uganda be kidding me!

    --
    I'm sorry, but your opinion seems to be wrong.
  2. That's a massive tax by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Informative

    Bear in mind that many places in rural Uganda have shops where you can buy phone top ups for the local currency equivalent of 25 cents, 5 cent tax per day is a *massive* tax for a lot of Ugandans.

    1. Re:That's a massive tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Bear in mind that many places in rural Uganda have shops where you can buy phone top ups for the local currency equivalent of 25 cents, 5 cent tax per day is a *massive* tax for a lot of Ugandans.

      I'm going to advance the hypothesis that Uganda will soon see a massive boom in VPN network use.

    2. Re:That's a massive tax by guruevi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sure Ugandans are willing to pay a $15 monthly fee to avoid a $1.5 monthly tax

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    3. Re:That's a massive tax by infolation · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm going to advance the hypothesis that Uganda will soon see a massive boom in VPN network use.

      The Ugandan government is way ahead of you and already blocking VPNs.

  3. If one wants to tax social media by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One must first define social media.

  4. Silly Question regarding information and privacy by tensigh · · Score: 2

    Am I the only one who sees a "pay-as-you-go-model" like this as a result of the new privacy restrictions being imposed by the EU and state of California? The model of this story is a tax, but if advertisers can't find their targets and start withdrawing ads, does anyone else think sites like FB or Instagram might use something like this? Just a question.

  5. Translation by jimbrooking · · Score: 2

    "Freedom of expression" --> "We need free access to feed you our ads/propaganda"

    In the US they ought to charge at least a dollar a minute to compensate you for consuming their bullshit.

  6. Excellent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is giving US ISPs a case to stand on for when they decide to charge users for specific services they want to access now that Net Neutrality is gone.

  7. Good. Social media has little redeeming value by schwit1 · · Score: 2

    It strips your privacy in exchange for a false sense of belonging.

    1. Re:Good. Social media has little redeeming value by tehcyder · · Score: 2

      It strips your privacy in exchange for a false sense of belonging.

      Yes, we really should repeal all the laws making it compulsory to use social media 24/7.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  8. Re:creimer is fat and a gay by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

    So your boyfriend is fat.

    Who cares?

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  9. If you can tax it... by Arzaboa · · Score: 2

    This is about the equivalent of a soda tax.

    Both sugar and the internet can make one unhealthy.

    One man's vice is another man's revenue stream.

    --
    "Look on the bright side, it'll be dark soon." -- Midnight Sun

    1. Re:If you can tax it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is about the equivalent of a soda tax.

      Both sugar and the internet can make one unhealthy.

      One man's vice is another man's revenue stream.

      --
      "Look on the bright side, it'll be dark soon." -- Midnight Sun

      The funny thing is, if governments really want to reduce sugar consumption they can simply stop subsidizing sugar (and especially corn sugar/corn syrup) production.

  10. Re:Apply this worldwide. by Bert64 · · Score: 2

    Many countries have nationalised healthcare, where the costs of alcohol/tobacco related health issues are supposed to be paid for by the taxes on those products...

    --
    http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
  11. How will anyone avoid paying the tax ? by Alain+Williams · · Score: 2

    Given that most web pages these days contain links to SM (Facebook, Twitter, ...) often a link to the SM logo or a bit of javascript. So the person might not knowingly have anything to do with SM but I suspect that their browser downloading these small components will be seen as access to SM and so trigger the day's tax. Now that HTTPS is pervasive it is not possible to determine *what* is being accessed within a web site.

    The only way that people are going to be able to avoid this is by installing browser plugins like request policy - which, in itself, is no bad thing.