Facebook is among the social networks that will be taxed in Uganda.
Joel Saget / AFP / Getty Images
Uganda’s parliament has passed a law to tax people’s social media use.
The Excise Duty (Amendment) Bill imposes a 200 shilling (5 cent) daily charge for messaging services such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber and Twitter in the African country, BBC reported Thursday.
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has been pushing for the tax since March, when he wrote a letter to Finance Minister Matia Kasaija saying that the revenue generated would help the country “cope with consequences of olugambo [gossiping].”
The law kicks in July 1, but how the government will enforce it remains unknown.
The bill also imposes a 1 percent levy on mobile money transactions, which some politicians argue will have a negative impact on low income Ugandans who have no local bank.
In Uganda’s neighbor, Kenya, Facebook users were encouraged to use the social media network to report violence in the country’s 2017 elections.
Let’s block ads! (Why?)