diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 83eef1fb..6e99d9ee 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ include Dockerfile
 include MANIFEST.in
 include Makefile
 include install-rpm.sh
-include linkchecker.freecode
 include .project
 include .pydevproject
 
diff --git a/linkcheck/updater.py b/linkcheck/updater.py
deleted file mode 100644
index d35dbfc5..00000000
--- a/linkcheck/updater.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,77 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2011-2014 Bastian Kleineidam
-#
-# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
-# with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
-# 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
-"""
-Function to check for updates.
-"""
-
-import os
-from .configuration import Version as CurrentVersion
-from .url import get_content
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
-
-# Use the Freecode submit file as source since that file gets updated
-# only when releasing a new version.
-UPDATE_URL = (
-    "https://raw.github.com/linkchecker/linkchecker/master/linkchecker.freecode"
-)
-VERSION_TAG = 'Version:'
-if os.name == 'nt':
-    URL_TAG = 'Windows-installer-URL:'
-else:
-    URL_TAG = 'Source-Package-URL:'
-
-
-def check_update():
-    """Return the following values:
-       (False, errmsg) - online version could not be determined
-       (True, None) - user has newest version
-       (True, (version, url string)) - update available
-       (True, (version, None)) - current version is newer than online version
-    """
-    version, value = get_online_version()
-    if version is None:
-        # value is an error message
-        return False, value
-    if version == CurrentVersion:
-        # user has newest version
-        return True, None
-    if is_newer_version(version):
-        # value is an URL linking to the update package
-        return True, (version, value)
-    # user is running a local or development version
-    return True, (version, None)
-
-
-def get_online_version():
-    """Download update info and parse it."""
-    # prevent getting a cached answer
-    headers = {'Pragma': 'no-cache', 'Cache-Control': 'no-cache'}
-    content, info = get_content(UPDATE_URL, addheaders=headers)
-    if content is None:
-        return content, info
-    version, url = None, None
-    for line in content.splitlines():
-        if line.startswith(VERSION_TAG):
-            version = line.split(':', 1)[1].strip()
-        elif line.startswith(URL_TAG):
-            url = line.split(':', 1)[1].strip()
-            url = url.replace('${version}', version)
-    return version, url
-
-
-def is_newer_version(version):
-    """Check if given version is newer than current version."""
-    return LooseVersion(version) > LooseVersion(CurrentVersion)
diff --git a/linkchecker.freecode b/linkchecker.freecode
deleted file mode 100644
index 8510d247..00000000
--- a/linkchecker.freecode
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-Project: LinkChecker
-Version: 9.4
-Website-URL: https://linkchecker.github.io/linkchecker/
-Changelog-URL: https://github.com/linkchecker/linkchecker/blob/master/doc/changelog.txt
-Source-Package-URL: https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/L/LinkChecker/LinkChecker-${version}.tar.gz
-Debian-Package-URL: http://packages.debian.org/linkchecker
-GIT-Tree-URL: https://github.com/linkchecker/linkchecker.git
-
-This file is now only used for update checks since freecode.com is
-not functional anymore.
diff --git a/tests/test_updater.py b/tests/test_updater.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 0fce1715..00000000
--- a/tests/test_updater.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2011-2014 Bastian Kleineidam
-#
-# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
-# with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
-# 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
-"""
-Test update check functionality.
-"""
-
-import unittest
-
-from tests import need_network
-import linkcheck.updater
-
-
-class TestUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
-    """Test update check."""
-
-    @need_network
-    def test_updater(self):
-        res, value = linkcheck.updater.check_update()
-        self.assertTrue(type(res) == bool)
-        if res:
-            self.assertTrue(value is None or isinstance(value, tuple), repr(value))
-            if isinstance(value, tuple):
-                self.assertEqual(len(value), 2)
-                version, url = value
-                self.assertTrue(isinstance(version, str), repr(version))
-                self.assertTrue(url is None or isinstance(url, str), repr(url))
-        else:
-            self.assertTrue(isinstance(value, str), repr(value))