GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Whether and how new media functions as a new level of news selection and study the resulting perception biases with citizens should be assessed. Research should examine the extent to which platforms and new media actually help democratise political systems and offer avenues of active engagement, or hinder participation for some. The effects of the replacement of media consumption with content consumption should also be examined. Proposals should investigate how audiences of different ages, different genders and different socio-economic and ethnolinguistic groups receive and assess information on digital platforms, and how political actors use these platforms to shape political behaviour. They should propose and design regulatory innovations in response to the covert use of social platforms for political goals. Evidence-based approaches and methods for enhancing capacities for digital citizenship, including media education, media competences, and digital literacy should be developed. Insight about the effects of social media on social behaviour should be attained.