But it was the attempt to silence conversations taking place on Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp that produced the loudest reactions. In a country with the youngest population in the world, where 77 percent of the population is under 30 years of age, mobile apps have become vital to communication and commerce. During the four-day ban, nearly 1.5 million citizens, or 15 percent of the internet-using populace, downloaded VPN software to reroute their internet connections and return to social media, where discussion over the election continued to rage."When there is an unjust law or directive, it's the duty of all right thinking humans to reject it in all manner," Akiteng Isabella, an activist with Uganda Youth Network, said. "This is a lesson to the government that its population is young and creative and very unwilling to be held at ransom."In a country with the youngest population in the world—77 percent of its population is under 30—mobile apps are vital to communication and commerce.
A vote counter in Kampala at the end of elections. Photo by Bwette Daniel Gilbert
To access social media, many Ugandans turned to Virtual Private Networks, which reroute one's internet connection through computers in other countries, allowing dissidents to conceal their locations and others to watch services like Netflix outside the countries for which they're intended. "TrueVPN had a 220,000 increase in four hours, and that isn't the main VPN people used."
![](https://motherboard-images.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/30830/1456259459427648.png)
A protester in Kampala. Photo by Bwette Daniel Gilbert
In the face of what Amnesty International regional deputy director called "nothing but an exercise in censorship," Ugandans took up a range of tactics to continue expressing their politics, subverting the ban and risking persecution.Massive crowds all on the streets of Kampala, celebrating Museveni's re election #UgandaFebruary 20, 2016
![](https://motherboard-images.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/30830/1456259681736832.jpeg)
![](https://motherboard-images.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/30830/1456261087439342.png)
A tear gas canister fired by police during protests near an opposition office in Kampala. Bwette Daniel Gilbert
Tear gas envelopes a boda-boda bike in Kampala. Bwette Daniel Gilbert