Google To Stop Chrome Ad Blockers With Manifest V3 Extensions

Last month, Google acted on YouTube ad blockers, encouraging users to watch ads or pay for a Premium subscription. Now, uBlock Origin, one of the most popular Chrome ad blockers, will stop working soon. In a recent developer post, Google announced that it is resuming plans to change how extensions function on the web browser, putting several extensions, including uBlock Origin ad blocker, in danger.

Manifest V2 Vs. Manifest V3

Manifest V2, an extension platform that allows developers to create extensions, could be easily abused by bad actors. Further, its old architecture didn’t suit mobile devices well. Hence, Google has developed Manifest V3, an advanced extensions platform for replacing background pages and restricting ad blocker functionality. By June 2023, Manifest V2 extensions will be turned off in Chrome Dev, Beta, and Canary builds, and as a result, users will no longer be able to install them from the Web Store.

Is There A Workaround For Ad Blockers?

In simple words, those who rely on ad blockers, particularly uBlock Origin, for a better web browsing experience won’t be able to use them when the Manifest V3 extensions come in place and Google removes the old ones. To continue using the ad blocker, users might need to switch to Firefox. Alternatively, users could also refrain from updating their Google Chrome web browser unless an update contains a critical security fix.

Although the uBlock Origin developers have released a Manifest V3-compliant version of their ad blocker, called uBlock Origin Lite, it might not be as functional as the original version. Further, if the developers fail at bypassing the restrictions put in place by the new platform for extensions, the ad blocker will fail.

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