Chrome will start blocking uBlock Origin

Nowadays, practically everyone who uses browsers ends up using an ad blocker. But, if it depends on Google and its Chrome browser, things will start to get a little more complicated, especially for those using uBlock Origin.

It turns out that the company announced some changes to its browser, which has undergone changes to its extension support structure and will soon begin to prevent the use of this specific blocker. Find out more details!

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The move from Manifest V2 to Manifest V3

Google announced a browser extension framework change for Chrome, moving from Manifest V2 to Manifest V3. According to the company, this transition aims to bring more security, efficiency and compatibility with modern APIs.

However, in practice, the change also takes away or limits some features that are essential for more complex extensions, such as ad blockers. And among the affected extensions is uBlock Origin, one of the most popular ad blockers on the market, with more than 30 million users in the Chrome Web Store alone.

This means that even if uBlock Origin still works at the moment, future Chrome updates will end up automatically disabling it. While users can manually re-enable it for a period of time, this will only be temporary, meaning that eventually anyone using uBlock Origin on Chrome will have to look for an alternative or even change browsers.

This change to Manifest V3 also ended up raising some questions about Google’s motivations. Although the company argues that the main goal is to increase the security and efficiency of extensions, many believe that the initiative was mainly influenced by commercial interests.

That’s because, as the largest advertising company in the world, Google has no interest in seeing ad-blocking tools become so prominent. In recent years, the company has faced criticism for its attempts to bypass ad blockers on YouTube and for ending a years-long initiative that aimed to replace tracking cookies with a more privacy-friendly alternative.

uBlock Origin Lite is not yet an alternative

uBlock Origin developer Raymond Hill has already created a Manifest V3 compatible version called uBlock Origin Lite. However, this new version has some significant limitations. Although it maintains the same ad blocking filters, it does not bring certain advanced features, such as dynamic filters used to block script injection, and is also less effective against systems that try to bypass ad blockers, such as the famous “Admiral”, a blocker of blockers.

The limitations are so significant that Raymon Hill himself stated that this is the reason he did not replace uBlock Origin with Lite on the browser extensions page.

“I consider uBO Lite too different from uBO to be an automatic replacement. You will have to explicitly find a replacement for uBO according to what you expect from a content blocker. uBO Lite may or may not meet your expectations.”

Despite these limitations, uBlock Origin Lite received the “Featured” badge in the Chrome Web Store.

For those who intend to continue using robust ad blockers, such as uBlock Origin itself, the most interesting alternative at the moment is to change browsers. Options such as Firefox, Edge, Opera and even lesser-known browsers, such as Vivaldi, continue to offer support for more complex extensions and can be the ideal choice for those who want to maintain control over the display of ads while browsing.

Font: pcworld