Itch.io, a marketplace known for selling a range of indie products tabletop role playing games and video games, were reportedly temporarily removed by AI brand protection software used by Funko. Itch.io shared an article from Bluesky about the situation on December 9. “I’m not kidding, Itch.io was removed by Funko from “Funko Pop” because they used “AI-powered” trash brand protection software called Brand Shield. , he said.
Itch.io claims that Brand Shield “created a false phishing report” and sent it to Itch.io’s domain registrar, IWantMyName. The registrar reportedly “ignored our response and simply deactivated the domain.”
According to its website, Brand Shield identifies itself as “AI-powered online brand protection to combat phishing, fraud, counterfeiting and cyber threats.” “There’s a good reason why online scammers and counterfeiters are frustrated with us,” the website adds. “We stop them in their tracks and prevent their fraudulent activities. »
Itch.io’s original Bluesky post was shared at 11:13 p.m. PT (07:13 GMT/02:13 ET). While writing this story, we were initially unable to access Itch.io. However, after 3 a.m. (11 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET), the site was back online.
Wargamer has reached out to Itch.io, Funko, and IWantMyName for comment, but we have not received a response at this time. We’ve also reached out to Brand Shield, but the only response so far has been emails asking how the company can “protect our brand” and offers to demo its software.
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