Itch.io says an AI-powered "brand protection software" sent phishing reports notices to its domain registrar and hosting providers, causing its domain to be disabled.

Indie game distribution site Itch.io has been offline today, and it has a truly bizarre reason as to why.

Popular indie game platform itch.io says its domain was briefly taken down for a few hours Monday morning thanks to an "AI-driven" phishing report spurred by the company behind Funko Pop figures.

On Monday, December 9, 2024, both the official X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky social media accounts for popular PC indie gaming site Itch.io posted that the entire domain had been disabled. The cause? An automated AI ‘brand protection’ service.

Itch.io says Funko used AI software that falsely flagged it for phishing. The site was down for hours before it was restored.

One of the best websites for hosting indie games has been taken down by AI-powered brand protection software. Funko has taken down itch.io.

Itch.io was taken offline for several hours earlier today following what the site's owner calls a "bogus" phishing claim by Funko and BrandShield.

Indie game storefront Itch.io is currently offline because of what it describes as a bogus phishing report. While the game store’s servers are still online, the domain for the website is currently pointing towards IP addresses that itch.io doesn’t own — making it inaccessible for most people.

Itch.io was offline for a few hours, and it was all due to Funko and an AI tool it uses to generate claims, Itch.io claims.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

Itch.io, a website used to host a heap of games—primarily self-published indie projects—was taken down briefly this morning (or over the weekend, depending on time zones) thanks to, uh, Funko of Funko Pop infamy.

Indie game store Itch.io is currently offline – and claims that is the fault of the company behind Funko Pops. After a "bogus phishing report" Indie game store Itch.io is currently offline. Even though the servers are still online,