Security News > 2024 > June > Google Chrome change that weakens ad blockers begins June 3rd

Google is continuing with its plan to phase out Manifest V2 extensions in Chrome starting in early June 2024, weakening the abilities of ad blockers.

Starting June 3, 2024, with Chrome version 127, users with active Manifest V2 extensions will see warnings on Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary channels, while extensions still using Manifest V2 will lose their "Featured" badge.

Gradual disabling of V2 extensions will follow on the stable Chrome release, with recommendations for V3 alternatives.

What is Manifest V3? Manifest V3 is the latest version of the extension platform for Google Chrome, designed to enhance the security, privacy, performance, and overall trustworthiness of Chrome extensions.

uBlock Origin, considered one of the most popular ad blockers available, was forced to create a new project called uBO Lite, which is a permissionless Manifest V3 browser extension.

Google claims that, as a result of its actions to facilitate accelerated adoption, over 85% of actively maintained Chrome extensions, including popular ad-blockers like AdBlock, Adblock Plus, uBlock Origin, and AdGuard, have migrated or released versions that support Manifest V3. For developers whose extensions are still on Manifest V2, Google "Highly recommends" completing the migration now.

News URL

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/google-chrome-change-that-weakens-ad-blockers-begins-june-3rd/