COVID-19 MYTHOLOGY AND NETIZENS PARRHESIA IDEOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CORONAVIRUS MYTHS ON SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

Abstract

Social Media is a new media of information flow gateway that can be accessed by the public,
easily and freely. Social Media is an interactive information technology which not only can
netizens access information, but they can also make news (information, comments, etc.) and
share it on the internet. Easy access to information has caused ideological effects on society.
This research aims to examine the ideological effects of the myths about COVID-19 on social
media. The data collection was done through observation and distributing questionnaires
online on social media. The data sources were from WhatsApp and Coronavirus cases
reported online Indonesia. Researchers used Barthes' mythological theory to answer the
research objectives. The results of this research indicated that the spread of myths related to
COVID-19 by netizens on social media had caused ideological effects on society, for
example, the public refused the coronavirus victims to be buried in public burial because of
the corpse considered to infect the residents. This research contributes to the media effects
theory development, which can be a policy for the government in fighting against
Coronavirus, and netizens who use parrhesia on social media which can contain untrue myths