It looks like Google Chrome really wants you to look at advertisements.
In a quote post on X posted by Raymond Hill, the developer who brought us the free ad blocker Chrome extension uBlock Origin, it appears that Google Chrome is turning off the ad blocker.
« The deprecation of uBO in the Chrome Web Store has started, » Hill posted.
This comes in response to another user, Christoph Nakazawa posting a screenshot that shows Google Chrome turning off three extensions — MDN Search, Neat URL, and uBlock Origin — with the note « These extensions are no longer supported. Chrome recommends that you remove them. »
« After more than 15 years, it’s time to switch browsers. I just want Chrome but without nefarious behavior by Google, » Nakazawa wrote. « What Chrome-based browser would you recommend on macOS? »
As Mashable noted in August, this change comes as Google Chrome moves from Manifest V2 to Manifest V3. In an emailed statement to The Verge, a Google spokesperson Scott Westover said the majority of « actively maintained » extensions in the Chrome Web Store already use Manifest V3. « The top content filtering extensions all have Manifest V3 versions available — with options for users of AdBlock, Adblock Plus, uBlock Origin and AdGuard, » he told the outlet.
This doesn’t come as a huge surprise, as Google has already been cracking down on ad blockers on its other sites, including YouTube.
If you’d like to avoid this entirely, consider switching to more ad-blocker friendly browsers, like Brave.
UPDATE: Oct. 16, 2024, 4:23 p.m. EDT This story’s headline was updated to clarify a specific ad blocker was impacted.
