Google’s Chrome Internet Retailer is now warning that the uBlock Origin advert blocker and different extensions might quickly be blocked as a part of the corporate’s deprecation of the Manifest V2 extension specification.
“This extension may soon no longer be supported because it doesn’t follow best practices for Chrome extensions,” reads the Chrome Internet Retailer web page for uBlock Origin.
The warning features a hyperlink to a Google assist bulletin that states the browser extension could also be disabled to guard customers’ privateness and safety.
“To better protect your privacy and security, Chrome and the Chrome Web Store require extensions to be up-to-date with new requirements,” reads Google’s assist bulletin.
“With this, Chrome may disable extensions that don’t meet these requirements.”
Website: BleepingComputer
The brand new warnings have been first reported right now by customers on X, who noticed a unique message on the Chrome Internet Retailer stating that the extension is not accessible.
Nevertheless, BleepingComputer was not proven this alert on quite a few browsers and gadgets, as an alternative seeing the one shared above. It’s not clear if the unique message appeared by mistake and switched later to the present one.
The brand new alert recommends customers change to a unique advert blocker that helps Manifest V3, resembling Hill’s uBlock Unique Lite and different advert blockers. Many Chrome customers at the moment are saying they are going to change to different browsers if uBlock Origin is blocked.
There’s nothing insecure about uBlock Origin and sure different extensions which are displaying this alert. As a substitute, this warning is being displayed as a part of Google’s ongoing deprecation of the Manifest v2 (MV2) extension specification, which uBlock Origin makes use of.
In August, Google began warning customers straight within the browser that the extension might quickly be disabled and that they need to discover options.
Supply: BleepingComputer
On the time, uBlock Origin lead developer and maintainer Raymond Hill defined that these warnings are the results of Google deprecating assist for the Manifest V2 (MV2) extensions platform in favor of Manifest V3 (MV3).
“uBO is a Manifest v2 extension, hence the warning in your Google Chrome browser. There is no Manifest v3 version of uBO, hence the browser will suggest alternative extensions as a replacement for uBO,” Hill defined in August.
“uBO Lite (uBOL) is a pared-down version of uBO with a best effort at converting filter lists used by uBO into a Manifest v3-compliant approach, with a focus on reliability and efficiency as has been the case with uBO since first published in June 2014.”
These Chrome Manifest variations are specs for constructing Chrome extensions that define the principles, permissions, and APIs builders should comply with and use.
In 2019, Google introduced that Manifest V2 could be deprecated in favor of a Manifest V3 extension specification, which first began rolling out with Chrome 88 in December 2020.
Nevertheless, the brand new Chrome Manifest V3 launched important technical challenges for extension builders, particularly these requiring larger management over net browser capabilities resembling advert blockers, forcing them to create new extensions with restricted capabilities (like Hill’s uBlock Origin Lite).
Whereas uBlock Origin Lite may go advantageous for some customers, those that require superior filtering or when visiting particular websites, might discover that they’ve a extra restricted expertise. uBlock Origin’s developer created a FAQ explaining the variations between the uBlock Origin Manifest V2 extension and the brand new uBlock Lite Manifest V3 model.
Even after Manifest V2 is deprecated, customers can proceed to make use of the Manifest V2 extension till June 2025 utilizing the ExtensionManifestV2Availability coverage. This coverage permits the enterprise and different customers to regulate Manifest v2 extension availability on Linux, Mac, Home windows, and ChromeOS.
As uBlock Origin continues to work as regular on Firefox, and Courageous Browser and Vivaldi say they are going to proceed to assist Chrome Manifest V2, customers can nonetheless discover each Chromium-based browsers and options that assist the favored content material filter and advert blocker.
