Misinformation and Disinformation of COVID-19 on Social Media in Indonesia

Abstract

Infodemics in the COVID-19 pandemic situation biases information, and the community's need for the correctness of information becomes increasingly difficult to fulfill. Misinformation and disinformation circulate widely on social media, including instant chat applications. The research problem's formulation is how the contents of COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation that occurred on social media in Indonesia for the period January 20 - March 9, 2020. The research method used is quantitative with a content analysis approach. All misinformation and disinformation cases on social media are taken from cases that have been fact-checked by Mafindo (Indonesian Anti-Defamation Society) in a predetermined period. In total, there were 69 cases of misinformation and disinformation. As a result, there are three main conclusions in this study. First, false context and misleading content are the most common types of misinformation and disinformation. Second, the producers and distributors of these messages are individuals with Facebook and WhatsApp. Third, these findings indicate a tendency for the production and distribution of misinformation and disinformation messages to be carried out by individuals. The high accessibility of the community facilitates this to communication media.