Softonic and Itch.io are in a clash. The indie site Itch.io accuses the download portal Softonic of stealing software and sharing advertisements.
Softonic is one of the largest and most well-known portals for free software downloads. However, there is now criticism regarding their approach.
The platform Itch.io criticizes that the site offers its free software itself and packs it with advertisements. They write: “[They] steal content from our developers, cover it with ads” (“stealing content from our developers, covering them with ads”).
Itch.io is especially popular among indie developers who can offer demos or their games for free through the platform and receive voluntary donations from users. Many people who are active on Patreon also like to use this platform as an additional source of income.
But what lies behind the allegations from itch.io against Softonic?
Softonic is said to buy advertising spaces and thus push out the official provider
On Twitter, the operators of itch.io are complaining and showing a screenshot. Here it is shown how Softonic buys the first place in Google search as an “Ad” and offers a software from itch.io for free:
Whom can we contact to make you stop stealing content from our developers, covering it with advertisements, paying for search placement ahead of the actual creator, and continuing to host for advertising revenue even when a developer has taken down their own site?
The indie platform accuses Softonic of paying Google to place its downloads before the original download pages of the games, which would happen through the reinvestment of profits from the numerous ads in the title and on Softonic itself.
Moreover, Softonic is said not to make even the effort to adapt the stolen content to its own website. Because the official links to the developers are still integrated on the download pages – but in a way that they cannot be tracked. The developers explain in another Twitter post:
You are so lazy that you just insert the @itchio link from which you stole the game into the “Author” field on your website. And you prevent with “rel=nofollow” that search engines can trace the link back to the original. That is simply evil.
Why is this so dramatic? Through Itch.io, you not only have the often free download option but also the possibility to leave a donation for the developers. So you can still “buy” the game. This approach is likely to harm not only Itch.io but also the developers in the long run.
In general, you should be careful from which website you download free content. Other users have now had bad experiences with software from Nvidia that did not originate from Nvidia itself:
Hackers allegedly spread “official” Nvidia drivers with Trojans – Here’s how to protect yourself
