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Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin, leaving over 30 million Chrome users susceptible to intrusive ads

Google's campaign against ad blockers across its services just got more aggressive. According to a report by PC World, the company has made some alterations to its extension support on Google Chrome.

Google Chrome recently changed its extension support from the Manifest V2 framework to the new Manifest V3 framework. The browser policy changes will impact one of the most popular adblockers (arguably), uBlock Origin.

The transition to the Manifest V3 framework means extensions like uBlock Origin can't use remotely hosted code. According to Google, it "presents security risks by allowing unreviewed code to be executed in extensions." The new policy changes will only allow an extension to execute JavaScript as part of its package.

Over 30 million Google Chrome users use uBlock Origin, but the tool will be automatically disabled soon via an update. Google will let users enable the feature via the settings for a limited period before it's completely scrapped. From this point, users will be forced to switch to another browser or choose another ad blocker.

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203 comments

  • Remember like 2 weeks ago when Google's very own ad networks were distributing malware?

    Pepperidge Farm remembers.

  • The title should be "Google pulls plug out of Chromium"

    Too bad that even when people start switching, people writing drafts for the W3 spec are mostly Google employees. I'm sure that'll be their next battleground.

  • the big companies, technological or not, always do the same thing... they launch a good product, very cheap (or free). When they already have a big market, they start cutting back. In the case of food, they raise prices, cut products, slightly change the taste... In the case of technology, they raise prices, cut the product, eliminate features....

    That a company like Google, dedicated to data, has its own browser and pays to include it as standard in cell phones, it is clear that it is not going to stand still when an addon for its browser blocks part of its business...In this case, very few will switch browsers. That means changing habits. Already did with Google Photos.... . Tiene miles de millones de fotos y vídeos de menores, de fiestas, íntimas... Ofrece espacio gratuíto y después, le pagas por ello, porque tienes tu vida ahí.... Or with Google Maps. It's a great service, but it knows where you go, what for, your schedules... a brutal security problem...or with email.... it reads everything. Because otherwise it will add you to the calendar when you take a flight without having opened the confirmation email...

    I've never stopped using Firefox. Google pays it too, but it's the only one that's independent. And then there's Waterfox, Librewolf, PaleMoon... Run away from Google... there are alternatives.

    Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

  • I'm not sure if it's related, but I've been getting popups that prevent navigation away from pages on the Google Android browsers

  • Honestly, I blame developers who, some years ago, decided it was a good idea to centralize the browsers into the same engine. Yeah, it was hellish to maintain code for all browsers at the time (IE5, IE6, Firefox, Safari, etc), but it was paradise compared to our current scenario: at least we really had options: WebKit, Trident, Gecko, as well as lots of smaller, almost unknown engines. Now, all modern browsers are different wrappings of Chromium or Firefox, while most modern sites are developed without the active worry to keep Firefox compatible (one can notice how modern HTML5 features varies across both of them). It has no easy solution. Don't update, maybe? (Until sites start to complain about the outdated version)

  • Cat and mouse game, it’s better to DNS block ads.

    • DNS blocker will be as useful or maybe even less than ubo lite. E.g. it just cannot block youtube ads like ubo does.

      Also Google and removed both bypass your DNS blocker. They use their own DNS server and DoH protocol to resolve their ad servers. DoH is also hard to block because it uses port 443 with https.

      The best bet right now is to use either a DNS or even better: packet filter level blocker such as zenarmor; together with ublock origin on firefox. Nothing else will not really block tracking in 2024.

    • Or, here me out, don't use Chome

203 comments