Project description
Antitrust cases and citizen trust
Large tech firms such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook have attracted global attention due to their violations of antitrust laws. As a regulatory authority, the European Commission can counterbalance such unfair dominance. Given this dynamic, antitrust cases, when they arise, often gain significant media attention, becoming the subject of public debate and politicisation. The MSCA-funded PROTRUST project investigates how the politicisation of antitrust cases influences citizens’ trust in the European Commission as well as these companies. PROTRUST will analyse media coverage in various countries and conduct survey experiments based on the identified media frames. The goal of this project is to bridge the gap between politicisation and trust research, enhance our comprehension of politicisation within competition policy, and assess the impact of media framing on competition and antitrust matters.
Objective
Large firms such as Amazon, Google and Facebook have been making worldwide headlines for abusing their market power and violating antitrust rules. Within the European Union (EU), the European Commission (EC) has been a regulatory powerhouse in competition policy with the capacity to counterbalance unfair dominance of large firms. Such antitrust cases tend to gain news coverage and lead to discussions in the public sphere. In other words, they become subject to ‘politicisation’. But does politicisation affect citizens’ trust in public authorities and large companies, and if so, how? PROTRUST (Public Trust in Contemporary Europe: Trusting the Antitrust) investigates the effect of politicisation of EU antitrust cases on citizens’ trust in the European Commission and in the firms involved. It does so through an innovative combination of (1) a claims-making analysis of media coverage of antitrust cases in selected countries and (2) survey experiments based on the identified media frames from the claims-making analysis. PROTRUST is hosted by ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, where it benefits from the expertise of Prof. Tobias Bach and other academics in the areas of trust, public administration, and EU studies. It also relies on the support of two secondment institutions, GOVTRUST Centre of Excellence, University of Antwerp, and Lund University, adding key expertise in the areas of political economy, transparency and technology. PROTRUST builds a bridge between politicisation and trust research, advances knowledge on politicisation in the field of competition policy, and provides a novel analysis of the impact of media frames in relation to competition and antitrust. Considering the dominance of large firms and the emerging challenges of democratic governance in the digital age, analysing the link between politicisation and citizens’ trust is a timely and pressing topic.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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0313 Oslo
Norway
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