Disinformation and Miscommunication in Government Communication in Handling COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study explores how the Indonesian government uses websites to respond to public information as the COVID-19 pandemic has developed into a global crisis.The government is expected to act quickly and decisively in responding to the public's communication and information crisis. Communication is becoming the most crucial part, especially when it comes to delivering the facts. The accuracy of the information provided also plays a significant role in shaping public perception of the situation. Data obtained were gathered from the central government and provincial government regions' official report, analyzed using SimilarWeb: Website Traffic. The findings showed that the Indonesian government did not have enough response tools set up in the event of a viral outbreak, was not well prepared in the event of communicating with the international community in the event of such an outbreak, and did not have integrated actions to be made between the central government and the second regional government in managing their response. As for the data provided by the central and regional governments, the data have now gone public, showing how good it is.