I am not sure if this would change anything about the spamming. I have seen places where links are disabled. There ist just spam by other means. Obfuscated links that people should copy paste, since the users will know that links are disabled.
Also, posting comments with links are not unusual. Go to page 1 of popular, look at any of the games and you will find that a lot of comments have links. Often to youtube.
So blanket banning links would not solve the spamming itself and it would impair how comments are used.
Maybe a two step sytem might help:
You would click a link, and it would bring you to a disclaimer page where it is explained that you are now leaving Itch and and you should check the account that posted that link and why you are clicking the link.
As a bonus the target url could be highlighted in a way to spot obfuscated fake urls and include other hints. Some urls could be blocked entirely, like url shorteners.
Example for highlighting: Itch.io and ltch.io. highlights as ITCH.IO and LTCH.IO.
And there might be a warning that even legitimate websites (including Itch) can be used to host malware. The current wave has links to files hosted on the Patreon url complete with fake warning from the criminal, complete with a fake official sounding account name.
Game has been updated!
Updated version is here → https://www.patreon.com/file? (removed. It opens a direct file download dialog.)
Please download only from official links (like this one) to make sure you get the correct and safe version.
The account has close to 400 spam posts and topics...