The indie game platform Itch.io experienced an unexpected outage early Monday morning due to what it claims was a false phishing report. While the store’s servers remained operational, its domain was redirected to IP addresses outside of its control, effectively making the website inaccessible to most users.
The disruption began around 2 a.m. ET and appeared to be resolved by approximately 7 a.m. ET. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Itch.io attributed the problem to Funko, a company known for pop culture collectibles. Itch.io alleged that Funko’s “AI-powered” brand protection software, called Brand Shield, generated an erroneous phishing report, which led to the issue with its domain registrar. The company criticized Brand Shield as “trash” software that caused unnecessary trouble.
Although the contested page was removed following the report, the domain registrar, iwantmyname, automatically disabled Itch.io’s domain—likely as a precautionary measure enforced by automated systems. This left the indie game store unable to access its domain until the registrar reviewed and reactivated it. In another post on X, Itch.io stated it had to wait for the registrar to respond to restore access to its site.
The timing of this domain disruption was particularly inconvenient, as it occurred just days after Itch.io introduced a new feature allowing users to link their profiles to Bluesky accounts using the Itch.io domain name. This feature, available to users who had spent at least $10 on the platform, allowed them to use their Itch.io profile URLs as Bluesky handles. However, the domain issue rendered these custom URLs invalid on Bluesky during the outage, leaving affected users with “invalid handle” errors until the main Itch.io domain was restored.
The outage underscores the vulnerabilities platforms face when third-party systems, like automated brand protection tools, interfere with domain operations. Itch.io’s reliance on iwantmyname as its registrar made it susceptible to automated actions taken in response to unverified reports, which can result in widespread accessibility issues for users.
For now, Itch.io appears to have recovered from the incident, but the situation raises broader concerns about the risks associated with AI-powered brand protection software and the potential for false positives to disrupt legitimate businesses.