#BrandShield
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haysey-draws.art
Fuck Funko Pop and Fuck Brandshield
itch.io itch.io @itch.io · Dec 9
I kid you not, @itch.io has been taken down by Funko of "Funko Pop" because they use some trash "AI Powered" Brand Protection Software called Brand Shield that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just disabled the domain
December 9, 2024 at 9:58 AM
mogsk.bsky.social
Everyone is (probably rightly) directing their ire at Funko for this, but I think it bears pointing out, Brandshield is an Israeli company and itch is a site that regularly fundraises for Gaza.
itch.io itch.io @itch.io · Dec 9
I kid you not, @itch.io has been taken down by Funko of "Funko Pop" because they use some trash "AI Powered" Brand Protection Software called Brand Shield that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just disabled the domain
December 9, 2024 at 8:50 AM
vexorian.dev
This is how BrandShield, the AI product that sent the bogus report to @itch.io's DNS describes their tech. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvMN...

Language like "And Takes them down, fast" "Assuring Fast, Efficient Takedowns"

Pure recklessness. 0 mention of false positive prevention. Only promises speed
BrandShield - Brand Oriented Digital Risk Protection
YouTube video by BrandShield Ltd
www.youtube.com
December 9, 2024 at 8:06 AM
videogameschronicle.com
Funko and BrandShield have both said it wasn't their fault indie repository itch.io was taken offline, but itch's creator says BrandShield was "the malicious actor" for submitting "a bogus phishing report" instead of a standard DMCA takedown.

www.videogameschronicle.com/news/funko-a...
Funko and BrandShield say it wasn’t their fault itch.io was taken offline, site creator says otherwise | VGC
itch.io’s founder believes BrandShield is “the malicious actor” in the situation…
www.videogameschronicle.com
December 10, 2024 at 11:41 AM
samred.com
funny thing, looks like BrandShield plagiarized parts of some other company's "glossary" to fill out its own. infringement for me, sham takedowns for thee
a google search with only two results in the world for specific phrases
December 9, 2024 at 7:42 AM
voxofalex.bsky.social
Itch should sue Funko, their registrar, and the BrandShield for loss of business on behalf of their own interests and the interest of their users, developers, and buyers. Because this is something that not only affects itch, but also everyone that hosts jams and releases software and games on there.
December 9, 2024 at 8:53 AM
soilent.etheirys.social
Brandshield is an Israeli so bankrupting them is a moral action
December 9, 2024 at 10:27 AM
tommothecabbit.bsky.social
Don't forget that BrandShield is an AI company from Israel which makes it even worse

DEFINITELY AVOID.
December 9, 2024 at 10:00 PM
pumpkinhills.bsky.social
funko ceo's candle is burning faster than brandshield ceo's candle. inch resting. #witchsky #pagansky
December 10, 2024 at 10:07 AM
themagicalgurl.bsky.social
BrandShield location: 🇮🇱

🤡🤡🤡
itch.io itch.io @itch.io · Dec 9
I kid you not, @itch.io has been taken down by Funko of "Funko Pop" because they use some trash "AI Powered" Brand Protection Software called Brand Shield that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just disabled the domain
December 9, 2024 at 8:22 AM
phophos.bsky.social
BrandShield? more like BrandFailed.
December 9, 2024 at 8:44 AM
kadenramstack.bsky.social
lol, lmao keep digging that hole deeper
a tweet form BrandShield that reads: " We identified and reported the infringement, and requested a takedown of the URL in question – not of the entire http://itch.io domain. The temporary takedown of the website was a decision made by the service providers, not BrandShield. (3/4)" A community note that reads: " Entire domains do not go down on the basis of copyright takedown request of an individual URL. This is the direct result of a fraudulent claim of malicious activity."
December 10, 2024 at 2:35 AM
kadenramstack.bsky.social
Incredible
A tweet by brandshield: " BrandShield remains committed to supporting our clients by identifying potential digital threats and infringements. We encourage platforms to implement stronger self-regulation systems that prevent such issues from escalating. (4/4)" Community Note: " The page in question had already been taken down. The 'self-regulation' had already done its job."
December 10, 2024 at 2:36 AM
fox.pet
Depending on how long this goes on I can smell a class action against Funko/BrandShield/iwantmyname from the creators that depend on Itch for income.

(Combined with the suit from Itch against said parties for causing harm to their business)
December 9, 2024 at 8:45 AM
stoogoff.com
Bit more context on what was going on with itch.io over on Hacker News. It's back up now, which is good
Text reads: I'm the one running itch.io, so here's some more context for you: From what I can tell, some person made a fan page for an existing Funko Pop video game (Funko Fusion), with links to the official site and screenshots of the game. The BrandShield software is probably instructed to eradicate all "unauthorized" use of their trademark, so they sent reports independently to our host and registrar claiming there was "fraud and phishing" going on, likely to cause escalation instead of doing the expected DMCA/cease-and-desist. Because of this, I honestly think they're the malicious actor in all of this. Their website, if you care: https://www.brandshield.com/ About 5 or 6 days ago, I received these reports on our host (Linode) and from our registrar (iwantmyname). I expressed my disappointment in my responses to both of them but told them I had removed the page and disabled the account. Linode confirmed and closed the case. iwantmyname never responded. This evening, I got a downtime alert, and while debugging, I noticed that the domain status had been set to "serverHold" on iwantmyname's domain panel. We have no other abuse reports from iwantmyname other than this one. I'm assuming no one on their end "closed" the ticket, so it went into an automatic system to disable the domain after some number of days. I've been trying to get in touch with them via their abuse and support emails, but no response likely due to the time of day, so I decided to "escalate" the issue myself on social media.
December 9, 2024 at 12:02 PM
trqx.bsky.social
There is chain of people at BrandShield, @funko.bsky.social , and iwantmyname who probably leave their microwave clocks on summertime for the whole winter.
December 9, 2024 at 8:08 AM
pumpkinhills.bsky.social
update: brandshield ended up burning out first
December 10, 2024 at 12:28 PM
pablosanescobar.eurosky.social
Po ok 4 godzinach jest w końcu oświadczenie. Zdecydowanie za późno i napisane na odwal. To nie jest awaria serwerów, albo kolejne problemy z BrandShield. Zaufanie zostało mocno nadszarpnięte i ciężko będzie je odbudować.

No i chyba wypadałoby zrobić aktualizację strony About.
July 24, 2025 at 6:34 AM
techraptor.net
Yesterday, Itch.io went down for several hours over what the site owner called a "bogus" phishing claim by Funko and software suite BrandShield, and today, the plot has thickened considerably.
Yesterday, Itch.io went down for several hours over what the site owner called a "bogus" phishing claim by Funko and software suite BrandShield, and today, the plot has thickened considerably.
Funko and BrandShield have responded to claims made by Itch.io owner Leaf Corcoran about the site's outage yesterday, and they're both deflecting blame. Read this article on TechRaptor
dlvr.it
December 10, 2024 at 1:55 PM
mogsk.bsky.social
An Israeli company whose CEO is a former head of the Israeli military's Information Security Department I might add!
A screenshot of the profile of Brandshield CEO Yoav Keren which reads "Yoav Keren has 24 years of experience in financial management, marketing, and business development. He is currently a member of the anti-counterfeiting committee at INTA and was formerly a Council Member at ICANN. Yoav was senior advisor to a minister in the Israeli government and was the head of the Technology branch of the Israeli military’s Information Security Department. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg & Recanati business school (Northwestern University & Tel-Aviv University) and a BA in Economics and Physics from the Tel-Aviv University."
December 9, 2024 at 11:30 AM
madpierrot.design
Not me running face first into the fact that the AI-bullshit company that fraudulently took down itch.io is based Israel. Absolutely no one would buy this if you wrote these villains. Because it sounds absurd and like you, the writer, have an agenda. But, like, it's true? It's real life.
A screenshot of the header and info for BrandShield Ltd. on Twitter/X. Highlighted is the company's location of Ramat-Hasharon, Israel, a district in Tel-Aviv according to Google. Everyone in the writers room would say tone it down on the villains because it's cartoonish.
December 10, 2024 at 4:46 AM
mogsk.bsky.social
Their CEO was apparently the "head of the Technology branch of the Israeli military’s Information Security Department"

Like, I was suspicious a couple hours ago, but now I'm convinced.
A screenshot of the profile for Brandshield CEO Yoav Keren which reads "Yoav Keren has 24 years of experience in financial management, marketing, and business development. He is currently a member of the anti-counterfeiting committee at INTA and was formerly a Council Member at ICANN. Yoav was senior advisor to a minister in the Israeli government and was the head of the Technology branch of the Israeli military’s Information Security Department. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg & Recanati business school (Northwestern University & Tel-Aviv University) and a BA in Economics and Physics from the Tel-Aviv University."
December 9, 2024 at 11:28 AM
ayetsg.com
Not to mention that they had ALMOST A WEEK to do so
A post on HackerNews. The post reads: I'm the one running itch.io, so here's some more context for you: From what I can tell, some person made a fan page for an existing Funko Pop video game (Funko Fusion), with links to the official site and screenshots of the game. The BrandShield software is probably instructed to eradicate all "unauthorized" use of their trademark, so they sent reports independently to our host and registrar claiming there was "fraud and phishing" going on, likely to cause escalation instead of doing the expected DMCA/cease-and-desist. Because of this, I honestly think they're the malicious actor in all of this. Their website, if you care: https://www.brandshield.com/ About 5 or 6 days ago, I received these reports on our host (Linode) and from our registrar (iwantmyname). I expressed my disappointment in my responses to both of them but told them I had removed the page and disabled the account. Linode confirmed and closed the case. iwantmyname never responded. This evening, I got a downtime alert, and while debugging, I noticed that the domain status had been set to "serverHold" on iwantmyname's domain panel. We have no other abuse reports from iwantmyname other than this one. I'm assuming no one on their end "closed" the ticket, so it went into an automatic system to disable the domain after some number of days. I've been trying to get in touch with them via their abuse and support emails, but no response likely due to the time of day, so I decided to "escalate" the issue myself on social media.
December 9, 2024 at 8:34 AM
handle.invalid
Just a little rant about the itch.io x Funko x Brandshield situation from yesterday's stream 😡

www.youtube.com/shorts/GQZPW...
Brandshield doesn't know it's a** from it's elbow #itchio #funko #twitchstreamer
YouTube video by b3agz After Dark
www.youtube.com
December 11, 2024 at 8:31 AM