UGANDA

Shot of a banner at a protest march in Uganda (i18)

With the implementation of a tax on 58 OTT applications, primarily used for communication, on July 1 access has been severely limited for many across Uganda. The combination of the tax on social media, a fee of roughly USD $0.5, and the 1% tax on the use of mobile money, could potential consume nearly 3% of the average Ugandan's annual earnings. These factors don't even include the fees associated with simply owning mobile phones. The tax also raises internet connection costs 10% for Uganda's poorest residents.

 

While President Museveni claims to have instated the tax to minimize the purveyance of gossip on such platforms, it comes at a great detriment to his people. A clear violation of Net Neutrality, taxing social media turns the right to free speech, as granted in the constitution of the country, into a luxury that many cannot afford to pay.

 

Furthermore, the tax eliminates for many the connectivity that their communities had created in order to have an efficient warning system in case of emergencies. It also indicates a clear lack of awareness regarding digital literacy with one Global Voices, an anti-censorship network of bloggers and activists, author saying "When I interviewed women living in Bwaise, a slum in Kampala, I learned that for them, WhatsApp and Facebook are the internet. These are the only platforms they know how to use. So with the new tax, they will be cut off altogether." Access to information on mobile devices sprouted rapidly across Uganda, and it has been denied even faster than it could spread (m11).

 

A nation, no matter how democratic on paper, cannot truly be free unless the peoples ability to communicate without, for some, absolute restriction of access is a reality.