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EXTENSIONS
First ad blocker users experienced interrupts, then YouTube videos loaded slower, now Google is disabling most ad blockers altogether.
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Manifest 3 is the latest version of Chrome’s extensions platform. The Chrome for Developers’ website describes it as an improvement to the “privacy, security and performance of extensions”. This claim has been met with scepticism by the EFF and other privacy advocates. The controversy centres around Manifest 3’s removal of an extension’s ability to use remotely hosted code.
As of Chrome 127, Google has also given itself the right to review and authorise browser extension updates. This gives it the power to slow down or disable ad-blocking extensions.
The EFF describes the update as a “raw deal” for users and another example of the “inherent conflict of interest that comes from Google controlling both the dominant browser and one of the largest internet advertising networks”.
This isn’t the first time Google has inadvertently endangered privacy in the name of protecting it. Its Privacy Sandbox was designed to create a more private web by replacing thirdparty cookies but it can, in fact, make it easier for advertisers to target individual users.
There’s little evidence to suggest that limiting ad-blocking extensions will improve browser performance. In its rebuttal, the EFF cites a 2020 Princeton/University of Chicago study that shows privacy extensions can actually improve browser performance.
Speaking on the AdGuard company blog, Andrey Meshkov stated: “Nearly all browser extensions as you know them today will be affected in some way: the more lucky ones will ‘only’ experience problems, some will get crippled, and some will literal
