It’s time to switch to Firefox!
With YouTube tightening its anti-adblocking methods, Google is following suit by limiting how many ad blockers you can use in its browser.
To understand this situation a little better, let’s go back to some history. Google previously put on-hold the rollout for Manifest V3 because this new version can severely damage many of Chrome’s popular extensions. Manifest is the format used to install these extensions into the browser. Currently, extensions use Manifest V2.
However, Google is back to developing the third iteration and even kill Manifest V2 by June 2024. Extensions using Manifest V2 will be disabled by then and users cannot install these extensions unless the developers update it to be compatible with Manifest V3. It is not yet known whether this will affect other Chromium-based browsers like Microsoft Edge.
One of the main concerns for Manifest V3 is the fact that it has limits. The initial limit of 5000 filters caused an outrage with developers and so Google had to adjust to 30,000. The problem is, Manifest V2 does not have these filter limits and it’s very stable. These filtering rules are important to certain ad-blockers like uBlock Origin because it contains over 300,000 filtering rules. With V3 in effect, Chrome users will be limited to the Lite version of uBlock Origin. Moreover, the ad blocker contains a blacklist which users can use to further filter websites.
It is worth noting that Mozilla Firefox users will also get V3. However, unlike what Google is implementing, Manifest V3 on Firefox will work differently an ensures that privacy tools like uBlock Origin remain accessible for its users. It’s no wonder users are switching browsers.
These limitations will hurt developers as it not only limits what ad blockers can do but also where and how they filter ads.
Source: Ars Technica
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