itch.io blames Funko for taking down its website due to phishing report created by some "trash AI-powered" software
One of the biggest oddities of recent days has happened to the owners of itch.io, a digital storefront and platform for indie game developers. Here are the main details of why the website suddenly went offline.
itch.io was taken down on December 9, leaving users from all over the world unable to access the website. The platform later issued an official statement, saying that pop culture collectibles manufacturer Funko used “some trash ‘AI Powered’ Brand Protection Software called BrandShield” that created what it described as a “bogus phishing report.”
iwantmyname, a domain registrar used by itch.io, ignored the report and just disabled the domain. The store’s servers remained online, but website’s domain pointed towards IP addresses that didn’t belong to itch.io.
I kid you not, @itchio has been taken down by @OriginalFunko because they use some trash “AI Powered” Brand Protection Software called @BrandShieldltd that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, @iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just disabled the domain
— itch.io (@itchio) December 9, 2024
“Also, for transparency, we did take the disputed page down as soon as we got the notice because it’s not worth fighting stuff like that,” the platform stated. “Regardless, our registrar’s automated system likely kicked to disable the domain since no one read our confirmation of removal.”
Reports of itch.io being down for most users emerged this morning. The owners noted that “if the downtime exceeds 8 hours then we’ll likely prioritize deploying a new domain.” At the time of writing, the website is back online, but some users from different countries still have troubles accessing the platform.
Leaf “leafo” Corcoran, the creator of itch.io, cited a possible reason behind the outage, saying that some person made a fan page for an existing Funko Pop game called Funko Fusion (released in September 2024) that also linked to the official website and screenshots.
“The BrandShield software is probably instructed to eradicate all ‘unauthorized’ use of their trademark, so they sent reports independently to our host and registrar claiming there was ‘fraud and phishing’ going on, likely to cause escalation instead of doing the expected DMCA/cease-and-desist,” the devleoper wrote on Hacker News, adding that BrandShield might be “the malicious actor in all of this.”
“About 5 or 6 days ago, I received these reports on our host (Linode) and from our registrar (iwantmyname),” Leafo continued, saying that itch.io notified both parties that the disputed page had been removed and the account disabled. Linode closed the case, but no one on iwantmyname’s end closed the ticket, “so it went into an automatic system to disable the domain after some number of days.”
Interestingly, an iwantmyname representative told Polygon that “the domain name was already reinstated earlier today after the registrant finally responded to our notice and took appropriate action to resolve the issue,”
Funko hasn’t yet officially commented on the matter. It is also unclear whether itch.io plans to take any action against BrandShield or other parties involved in the situation.
