Google Chrome Starts Disabling First Extensions That Block Ads

Google Chrome Starts Disabling First Extensions That Block Ads

Google has declared war on ad blockers, and not just on YouTube. Chrome is about to make one of the most significant changes that will affect millions of users around the world after removing support for some of its most widely used extensions like uBlock Origin.

Blockers won’t be the only extensions that will be subject to changes. Google Chrome has set an expiration date for extensions based on Manifest V2 (MV2) that has been in use since 2010. The browser intends to implement the Manifest V3 (MV3) protocol and the vast majority of tools will no longer be compatible with it.

The tech giant has been preparing for this change since 2019, but Google has finally started deactivating the first ad-blocking extensions, some of the most used in the browser.

Google argues that Manifest V3 will improve users' privacy and security while browsing. The technical requirements are higher and will limit the ability of many extensions to have advanced control over browser functionality.

uBlock Origin, one of the most widely used ad blocking extensions for Chrome, will not be compatible with MV3, but users have another alternative, the uBlock Origin Lite version, which is compatible with MV3, although it has less effective features on websites with more complex filters.

Users of uBlock Origin and other ad blocking extensions have started receiving notifications in the Chrome Extensions Store warning them that they “may soon no longer be compatible.” 

This will change when Google adopts Manifest V3. uBlock Origin and other MV2-powered extensions will be permanently removed from the browser and cannot be manually reactivated.

Google has confirmed that it is now 85% ready to switch to MV3. Other browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Brave, and Vivaldi will continue to use extensions in MV2 for the time being.