(Ecofin Agency) - As of today July 1 at midnight, any Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype etc user in Uganda will be subjected to social network taxes. These include 200 Ugandan shillings ($0.05 US) per day, 1400 shillings ($0.36 US) per week and 6000 shillings ($1.56) per month.

In his address on April 2018 to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and the Ministry of Finance requesting the introduction of this tax, the President of the Republic Yoweri Museveni indicated that the policy would help tackle “bad mouth” on the Internet and combat gossip that damages the country's reputation.

However, government said the fees would not be applied to those who use social networks for educational purposes. Citizens are therefore willing to know the method that would be used to identify such users, because they are not satisfied so far.

Operators including MTN, Airtel and Africell have already updated customers about the way to pay the tax. Likewise, the 1% tax on Mobile Money transactions also came into effect today.

The possible cut of this rate to 0.5%, mentioned June 4 by the Finance Minister Matia Kasaija during a press conference, has not been finally confirmed. Let’s note that the tax on social networks was adopted during a National Assembly session on May 30 this year.