After years of delaysGoogle is finally rolling out its Manifest V3 Chrome extension framework, encouraging extension developers to make the switch as it begins to drop support for Manifest V2 in the Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary channels.
Google has even been sending emails to users informing them when an extension is no longer supported and has been disabled, according to user X (formerly known as Twitter). leopeva64.
One of the biggest concerns surrounding this move has been breaking ad blockers that rely on the V2 framework, as V3 is much more restrictive. For example, uBlock Origin needs around 300,000 rules to work correctly, which far exceeds V3's strict limit of 30,000 – and the first one's number doesn't even include custom rules.
Chrome also removed the blocking version of the webRequest API and replaced it with the declarative NetRequest API in V3. Unlike V2, this gives the browser final say over modifying requests rather than adblock extensions, making said extensions much less effective at blocking ads and tracking requests.
Users and privacy advocates have been sounding the alarm about the potential ripple effect this will have on online privacy and security. However, one could argue that since V3 is still a work in progress, many of these issues may be resolved in the future by both Google and third-party developers (although they will exist in the current version).
What is Google's incentive to support ad blocker functionality with Manifest V3?
While I sincerely believe that developers will create workarounds for these problems, Google will prevent this every step of the way. You just have to see how the technology giant has been stepping up tactics against adblock extensions being used in the Chrome browser for YouTube.
Recently, users have reported that YouTube videos will skip automatically all the way if you have an Adblock extension enabled in your browser, as well as Video buffering issues and error messages that claim content is not available in the app. It is even said that a new tactic called server side ad injection, in which websites directly embed ads into the server's video content. Not only does this prevent ad blocking in Chrome browsers, but it even seems to work on Mozilla users with the uBlock extension. Fortunately, developers like Sponsorblock, who first broke the news about SSAI, are already working on alternative solutions.
In other words, Google is using Manifest V3 to continue its crusade against third-party ad blockers, along with all of these other tactics and tools it's currently testing on YouTube. If developers want to stay ahead and continue to run functional extensions, they will have to accept the fact that Google will fight them tooth and nail.
For now, if users are concerned about their privacy and security, it is time to switch to Mozilla Firefox. It is one of the few browsers that does not run on Chromium and offers a large number of extensions that protect your privacy on the Internet at all levels. He also recently announced that I wouldn't be deprecating compatibility with Manifest V2 as it continues to build on previous MV3 Chrome support in new updates.
In other words: do what you should have done years ago and switch to Firefox if you're really worried about Chrome's upcoming privacy issues. It's clear that despite what Google is trying to do with ad blockers, Mozilla is committed to providing developers with the tools they need to fight back.
