Google Chrome: Popular ad blocker about to be phased out - Google warns about uBlock Origin and other blockers

In the browser Google Chrome A big change is coming, which is now casting its shadow very clearly and is causing discussions: As a result of the imminent shutdown of Manifest V2, the browser is now warning all users of uBlock Origin and other blockers against their use. This has been announced for a long time, is now becoming very concrete and soon the expansion will no longer work at all. Certainly a nice side effect for Google.

Google will soon end support for Manifest V2 in the Chrome browser and will also keep the transition period for temporary use of the second version as short as possible. From this point on, all browser extensions must use Manifest V3, which contains many advantages, but also has limitations, primarily affecting ad blockers. The extensions are no longer allowed to set up quite as many rules as before and therefore cannot function to their full extent.

Although Google has increased the limits significantly, they are still not enough for ad blockers. At the beginning of 2025, Google will finally pull the plug on Manifest V2 and no longer allow all extensions based on it. Extension developers have known this for a long time and were of course able to react to it, but at a certain point their hands are tied – as is the case with ad blockers like uBlock Origin.

There will be no official V3 version of uBO, so Chrome’s upcoming update will end the blocker. Of course there are many alternatives, but they probably cannot offer the reliability of the industry leader. Even if the transition has been going on for a long time, we can be sure how these changes will affect these and other extensions or which new extensions can prevail.

Google now warns about ad blockers
The topic has understandably come up several times and the closer the shutdown comes, the more heatedly it is discussed. The warnings displayed in the browser have been around for a good three months, but so far they have been acknowledged and have not yet had any final consequences. But that will change and so Google has now started to stop the flow of new users. Because they will see the following message in the Chrome Web Store:

This extension may soon be deprecated because it does not follow Chrome extension best practices.

At first, this is all still theoretical and users will still be able to activate the blocked extensions after January 2025, but how long this will still be possible is anyone’s guess.

» Third-party cookies: Suddenly not so bad? Google’s role backwards is both a win and a loss

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