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Google Chrome’s Shift: A New Era for Ad Blockers
It seems that Google Chrome is increasingly encouraging users to engage with advertisements.
According to a post by Raymond Hill, the creator of the popular ad-blocking extension uBlock Origin, there are indications that Google Chrome is disabling ad blockers.
“The phase-out of uBlock Origin in the Chrome Web Store has commenced,” Hill stated.
This announcement follows a tweet from another user, Christoph Nakazawa, who shared an image showing that Google Chrome had disabled three extensions—MDN Search, Neat URL, and uBlock Origin—with a message indicating “These extensions are no longer supported. Please remove them.”
“After over 15 years, it’s time for me to consider switching browsers. I prefer using Chrome but without Google’s questionable practices,” Nakazawa expressed. “Which alternative browser would you suggest for macOS?”
The Transition from Manifest V2 to V3
As highlighted by Mashable in August, this development aligns with Google’s transition from Manifest V2 to Manifest V3. In an email statement provided to The Verge, Scott Westover, a spokesperson for Google, mentioned that most “actively maintained” extensions in the Chrome Web Store have already adopted Manifest V3. He noted that leading content filtering extensions now offer versions compatible with this new framework—including options for AdBlock, Adblock Plus, uBlock Origin, and AdGuard.
A Trend Towards Restricting Ad Blockers?
This shift isn’t entirely unexpected; Google has been tightening its grip on ad blockers across its platforms like YouTube as well.
Exploring Alternatives
If you’re looking to bypass these changes altogether and maintain your ad-free browsing experience, consider transitioning to browsers more accommodating of ad blockers such as Brave.
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