Yep, the folks behind those Funko Pop bobbleheads somehow managed to crash the site. Sounds like a fever dream, right? Well, buckle up, ‘cause Itch.io’s founder, Leafo, is just as baffled as we are.
Here’s the Tea
Leafo spilled the details on Bluesky and X, saying: “The site got taken down by Funko of ‘Funko Pop’ fame because they use this trash AI-powered brand protection tool called BrandShield. It flagged a bogus phishing report to our domain registrar, iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just YOLO’d the domain offline.”
To keep things chill, Itch.io nuked the offending page as soon as they got the heads-up. But apparently, their registrar’s robo-system wasn’t feeling cooperative and decided to pull the plug on the entire domain. “Not worth the fight,” Itch.io later said, but you can bet they weren’t thrilled.
WTF Is BrandShield?
BrandShield is this so-called AI tool meant to sniff out phishing, scams, and “brand violations.” Sounds fancy, right? But dig into their website, and it’s a corporate buzzword soup. They claim to defend brands from “external digital threats” like rogue logos, images, and even written content. Basically, it’s a bot army that nukes first and asks questions never.
How Did This Mess Even Start?
According to Leafo on Hacker News, the chaos came from a fan-made page for Funko Fusion—an actual Funko Pop video game. The page had links to the official site and some screenshots. But BrandShield apparently has one mission: DESTROY ALL “UNAUTHORIZED” STUFF. So, instead of doing the usual DMCA or cease-and-desist, it went full Karen, sending phishing claims directly to Itch.io’s host and registrar.
Leafo wasn’t having it, though. “We got the notice, killed the page, and disabled the account days ago,” he said. The hosting provider, Linode, confirmed all was good on their end. But iwantmyname? Total ghost mode. Instead of replying, they slapped the domain with a “serverHold” status, effectively kicking the site offline.
“I was frustrated AF,” Leafo said. “We had no other abuse reports, and I couldn’t believe this was still escalating.”
The Fallout
This is what happens when you let AI run wild without human oversight. BrandShield’s bot massively overreacted, and iwantmyname couldn’t be bothered to check their inbox. The result? Itch.io, one of the biggest hubs for indie games, got shut down for hours. And that means indie devs who rely on the platform to sell their games were also left high and dry.
The good news? Itch.io’s back online now. The bad news? This whole thing shows how fragile small platforms are when they’re at the mercy of automated systems. But hey, at least Funko’s precious brand was saved from a harmless fan page. Crisis averted, folks. 🙄
Harvey Randall
Staff Writer
Harvey’s gaming journey started with World of Warcraft at age 12, and now he’s neck-deep in Final Fantasy 14 with a major crush on G’raha Tia. He’s written for sites like TechRadar, The Escapist, and PC Gamer, with a soft spot for RPGs, roguelikes, and weird indie gems. Offline, he’s a TTRPG geek—just don’t ask him about his favorite system, or you’ll be stuck in a rabbit hole for hours.
