The itch.io website has become unavailable due to a complaint from the company Funko
On December 9, the website itch.io, a digital store specializing in indie games, went offline. According to the platform's administration, the domain registrar closed access to it after receiving a complaint from the toy manufacturer Funko.
Itch.io claimed that Funko used "some garbage AI-based brand protection software" called BrandShield. This program allegedly sent the registrar a "fradulent report" stating that phishing was detected on one of itch.io's pages.
According to itch.io, the store's administration removed the contentious page soon after the phishing notification to avoid issues and notified the registrar, but this did not prevent the block. In their view, the registrar might not have read itch.io's report and acted automatically.
Itch.io plans to move the store to a new domain if access to the site is not restored in the coming hours.
Funko representatives have not commented on the situation.
Update: The itch.io website is available again.