Google looks to be fully shutting down unsupported extensions and ad blockers in Chrome – which might push some folks to switch to Firefox

Manifesting a future where Firefox is more successful?

News By Darren Allan published 4 October 2024

Google is set to clamp down even further on using certain unsupported extensions, most notably ad blockers, with its Chrome browser, given a new move in testing.

As spotted by Leopeva64, a regular leaker of browser-related info on X, there’s a change in the Canary (early test) build of Chrome whereby Google has entirely stripped away the ability to use Manifest V2 browser extensions, such as uBlock Origin, a popular ad blocker.

Let’s rewind a bit for background here – as you may have seen, Google has been ushering in a shift in Manifest, the platform its extensions are built on, from V2 to V3, as the latter is designed to offer better security, performance, and other benefits (there are plenty of folks who disagree, mind).

As we’ve seen in recent times, that move to Manifest V3 is now underway, and Chrome users have for some time now been warned that older extensions built on V2 are not supported by the browser.

Currently, though, you can still use a V2 extension like the mentioned uBlock Origin – though you’ll be warned against it – but as Leopeva64 spotted, in the latest Canary build of Chrome, the switch to use a disabled V2 extension is now greyed out. In other words, you can no longer make the decision to enable uBlock Origin or other V2 extensions for Chrome at all (in testing).

What you get instead is a choice to bin the extension, or find an alternative - for example, with uBlock Origin you might be redirected to uBlock Origin Lite, the V3 spin on this add-on (missing some key abilities, it should be noted, as the ‘Lite’ designation hints).

Analysis: Some alarms, but no surprises

Well, this is no surprise. Google has been a long time in enacting this shift from Manifest V2 to V3, and in fact, it was six years back that the new platform was first aired.

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