The entire website itch.io has been taken offline, blaming toy maker Funko.

According to a thread posted on its official X account, itch.io says the entire site was brought down by what it called a “false phishing report.”

It is alleged that Funko deployed “brand protection software” that allegedly used artificial intelligence to flag a controversial page and filed a “false” report with itch.io’s domain registrar.

It then claims that the registrar disabled the entire website instead of verifying that itch.io disabled the page in question.

“I kid you not, itch.io was shut down by Funko because they use some stupid “AI-powered” brand protection software called BrandShield that created a false phishing report to our registrar iwantmyname, who ignored our response and simply deleted the domain deactivated,” it says.

“Also, for the sake of transparency, we deleted the controversial page as soon as we received the notice because it is not worth fighting against such things. Regardless, our registrar’s automated system likely deactivated the domain because no one read our takedown confirmation.”

I’m not kidding you, @itchio was dismantled by @OriginalFunko because they use some crap brand protection software called “AI-powered” brand protection software @BrandShieldltd This sent a fake phishing report to our registrar. @iwantmynamewho ignored our reply and simply deactivated the domain

– itch.io (@itchio) December 9, 2024

Itch.io also confirmed to a user on X that the site’s servers are “still there.” However, until the issue is resolved, the website and its games will be completely unavailable.

The longer the site remains unavailable, the more problematic this becomes for the developers of the more than 1 million indie products – including indie games, RPGs, comics and music – that have been sold and distributed through itch.io.