Itch.io, a website for hosting, selling and downloading indie video games, was down for several hours, blaming toy maker Funko Pop and its brand protection software’s AI algorithms.
Itch.io, a website for hosting, selling and downloading indie video games, was down for several hours, blaming toy maker Funko Pop and its brand protection software’s AI algorithms.
The indie game marketplace said Funko, best known for its Funko Pop figures, used «some junk AI-based brand protection software» that created a «fake» phishing report for domain registrar itch.io.
The company claims that the registrar «ignored» its response and disabled the itch.io domain, despite the fact that they removed the unnamed disputed page «as soon as we got the message.»
«However, our registrar’s automated system probably disabled the domain because no one read our removal confirmation. I hope you all had a good Sunday night, itch.io said.
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
The disconnection had serious consequences: all projects posted on itch.io became inaccessible, even to their owners. This applies not only to indie developers who sell their games, but also to those who use itch.io to host non-video game projects. One user replied to itch.io that he had a student’s work uploaded to the site and if it didn’t work, the professor wouldn’t be able to grade it.
«If downtime exceeds 8 hours, we will likely prioritize deploying a new domain. We hope that everything will be resolved by this time,» stated itch.io. Later, the company announced that they would wait to register a new domain, although they did not rule out such a possibility, due to the consequences for third-party services.
Itch.io advised users who know how to configure the hosts file to use the 45.33.107.166 configuration to regain access to the site. itch.io is currently available via the usual link.
The AI-powered brand protection software the service mentioned is BrandShield. Its website states that it «detects and tracks online trademark infringement, the sale of counterfeits, and brand abuse on various platforms: websites, social networks (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, etc.), marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, etc.), paid ads and mobile applications.
