Abstract The influence of computational propaganda on democratic processes globally has necessitated the exploration of mitigation strategies for political brands. The risk associated with computational propaganda includes the spread of misleading information about a political brand over social networking sites through bots (i.e. automated software applications that are programmed to do certain tasks) and newsfeed algorithms at rapid speeds. Apart from bots being used to facilitate the spread of disinformation (i.e. misleading information spread with the intent to manipulate or deceive), human curators also play a role. Research into addressing computational propaganda in the field of political communication is limited, compelling the need to look to consumer brand experts for insight. The current study used semi-structured interviews of senior consumer brand social media practitioners and applied content analysis to develop a framework for mitigating online brand risk associated with computational propaganda for political brands. This computational propaganda brand risk mitigation framework proposes two approaches to curb the effects of computational propaganda, namely, a preventative approach and a recovery approach. Based on established theoretical and practical concepts, this mitigation framework could guide the easing of online brand risk and associated crises for political brands.

中文翻译：

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面向受计算宣传影响的政治品牌的在线风险缓解框架

摘要：计算宣传对全球民主进程的影响使得探索政治品牌的缓解策略成为必要。与计算宣传相关的风险包括通过机器人（即被编程为执行某些任务的自动化软件应用程序）和新闻提要算法在社交网站上快速传播有关政治品牌的误导性信息。除了使用机器人来促进虚假信息的传播（即以操纵或欺骗为目的的误导性信息传播）之外，人类策展人也发挥着作用。在政治传播领域解决计算宣传的研究是有限的，因此需要向消费者品牌专家寻求洞察力。目前的研究使用对高级消费者品牌社交媒体从业者的半结构化访谈和应用内容分析来开发一个框架，以减轻与政治品牌计算宣传相关的在线品牌风险。这个计算宣传品牌风险缓解框架提出了两种方法来遏制计算宣传的影响，即预防方法和恢复方法。基于既定的理论和实践概念，该缓解框架可以指导缓解在线品牌风险和政治品牌的相关危机。这个计算宣传品牌风险缓解框架提出了两种方法来遏制计算宣传的影响，即预防方法和恢复方法。基于既定的理论和实践概念，该缓解框架可以指导缓解在线品牌风险和政治品牌的相关危机。这个计算宣传品牌风险缓解框架提出了两种方法来遏制计算宣传的影响，即预防方法和恢复方法。基于既定的理论和实践概念，该缓解框架可以指导缓解在线品牌风险和政治品牌的相关危机。