Funko and BrandShield say it wasn’t their fault itch.io was taken offline, site creator says otherwise
Funko and BrandShield have both posted statements saying they weren’t to blame for a takedown request which led to itch.io being taken offline for a while.
Earlier this week, the entire itch.io site was taken down by what its creator referred to as “a bogus phishing report”.
itch.io founder Leaf Corcoran claimed that toy company Funko was using “some trash ‘AI Powered’ Brand Protection Software called BrandShield”, which he says flagged a disputed page and filed a “bogus” report with itch.io’s domain registrar, which then ignored Corcoran’s response and disabled the domain.
Funko and BrandShield have each released statements blaming the registrar iwantmyname for the site’s temporary closure, while Corcoran has instead suggested BrandShield was to blame.
Funko’s statement claims that “one of our brand protection partners”, likely meaning BrandShield, “identified a page on itch.io imitating the Funko Fusion development website”.
It adds: “A takedown request was issued to address this specific page. Funko did not request a takedown of the itchio platform, and we’re happy the site was back up by this morning.”
At Funko, we hold a deep respect and appreciation for indie games, indie gamers, and indie developers. We’re fans of fans, and we love the creativity and passion that define the indie gaming community.
Recently, one of our brand protection partners identified a page on…
— Funko (@OriginalFunko) <a target="_blank" rel=«noopener» class=«link-external» href=«https://twitter.com/OriginalFunko/status/1866255848366039468?ref_src=» https:>December 9, 2024
BrandShield’s statement claims that its “AI-driven platform detects potential threats and provides analysis, and in this case, an abuse was identified from an itch.io subdomain.”
“We identified and reported the infringement, and requested a takedown of the URL in question – not of the entire itch.io domain,” it claims. “The temporary takedown of the website was a decision made by the service providers, not BrandShield.
“BrandShiel
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