Operatives behind Russian-linked bots used tools from U.S. startups, including IFTTT Inc., to supercharge social-media misinformation campaigns and meddle in elections.
Data disclosed this past week by Twitter Inc. showed that hundreds of accounts affiliated with the Russia-based Internet Research Agency used services offered by IFTTT, RoundTeam Inc. and Dlvr.it Inc. to automate and disperse their divisive messages more widely.
San Francisco-based IFTTT lets people connect different apps and automatically post content on multiple services. The company is backed by investors including Salesforce Ventures, IBM Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, according to Crunchbase.