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Google is approaching the launch of its new “Manifest V3” extension platform for Chrome. Google unveiled the new manifest version in 2019 as a new capabilities and permissions framework for Chrome extensions.
Google users are of course wondering what the future of ad-blockers will be like after this. Google Ad Blocker works by simply following your request to stop online ads. Soon, Manifest V3 will require Google Extensions to ask permission from Chrome first.
Well, Google’s upcoming privacy and security updates will reportedly render popular ad-blockers essentially useless.
Ad-blockers now utilize Google Chrome’s “webRequest” API to block HTTP requests through the current Manifest V2 extension but the Manifest V3 extension “declarativeNetRequest” utilizes a blocklist of specific URLs. The only problem is the blocklist is limited to just 30,000 URLs, instead of the usual lists of over 300,000 sites.
Google Chrome 112 – coming January 2023 will turn off support for Manifest V2 in the Canary, Dev and Beta channels, Chrome 115 launching in June will begin the transition to Manifest V3 with Manifest V2 extensions in the Chrome Web Store unlisted and removed completely January 2024.
