Google Chrome is ending support for popular extensions. Accordingly, it will implement changes that will significantly affect ad blocking. Starting later this year, Google Chrome will drop support for older extensions, including the popular ad blocker uBlock Origin.
Google Chrome is limiting its ad blocker capabilities
Google is discontinuing the Manifest V2 extension format for Chrome. This means that some popular extensions like uBlock Origin will no longer be supported. Affecting more than 500 million users, this decision also ushers in a new era for Chrome.
An API in Manifest V2 will now be deprecated. In this context, Google will give extensions much less tracking capability. With Manifest V3, it will switch to the NetRequest API. However, uBlock will also be implementing the Origin Lite extension.
uBlock Origin Lite will have far fewer capabilities than the previous version. Due to the limitations of the new API, it will have fewer filters and fewer configuration options. For full blocking, you may want to switch to an alternative ad blocker.
While Chrome plans to switch to Manifest V3 this year, some browsers like Firefox still support the Manifest V2 standard. This means that you can switch to an alternative browser and enjoy full ad blocking support.
For Chrome users who don’t want to lose ad blocking, there are still ways around this. It is worth noting that other extensions such as AdBlock and AdBlock Plus are compatible with Manifest V3.
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