Sociala medier, en mänsklig rättighet? : En studie på Ugandas införande av OTT-skatten och dess förenlighet med yttrandefriheten.

Sammanfattning: Is social media a human right? The first of July 2018 the Ugandan government implemented a new tax on social media, called “Over-The-Top” tax which includes over 60 social media platforms. The tax needs to be paid before entering the social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Whatsapp. The tax can be paid through a daily, weekly, monthly or through a fee every year. The reason for the tax according to the president Yoweri Museveni is to boost the government revenue and to end “lugambo”, gossip on social media. The aim of this thesis is to analyze whether the tax is violating human right and specially freedom of speech. The hypothesis of the thesis is that the OTT-tax is a cumbrance to people’s right to freedom of speech. The thesis concludes that freedom of speech is a negative right which means freedom from state influence. African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights(ACHPR) and the Banjul charter is defining freedom of speech such as every individual shall have the right to receive information, right to expression and to disseminate his opinion. ACHPR has also chosen to get inspiration from the UN which has established that internet is included in freedom of speech, rights which exists offline shall also exists online. Social media has served as an important tool throughout different occasion such as the #Metoo campaign, Arabic spring and through domestic´s events in Uganda as “Save Mabire” and #FreeBobiWine. Through argumentation analysis are the arguments for and against OTT-tax reviewed to verify or falsify the thesis hypothesis and the question formulation. The thesis concludes that the president´s arguments are neither solid or evidence-based and can thereby not falsify the hypothesis. The arguments against the OTT-tax are however solid and evidence-based and gets support from international law, therefore confirms the thesis hypothesis. The thesis concludes that there is a restriction on freedom of speech due to the OTT-tax since less people are able to access social media after the introduction of the tax.