Google announced that it will disable the Manifest V2 API, which powers most ad blockers and other extensions, in its Chrome browser. Google will switch entirely to the Manifest V3 API and users will lose the ability to install plugins based on the Manifest V2 API. Extensions will begin to be disabled in Chrome Dev, Canary, and Beta versions starting June 2024 in Chrome 127 and later.

Even after developers upgrade their solutions to Manifest V3, their functionality will be severely limited. The working mechanism of the chrome.webRequest API, which previously allowed data blocking, will now be used to collect data.

In API Manifest V3, the chrome.declarativeNetRequest API is responsible for blocking but cannot modify all data of network requests like Web Request does. In the Manifest V3 API, developers must use a different framework called the declarativeNetRequest API, where extensions must create a blocklist of predefined addresses to block.

Why is this a problem? Because Manivest V3 only allows extensions to run 30,000 rules, and most ad blocking extensions need to run at least 300,000 rules to work effectively. Accordingly, their work efficiency will decrease significantly. Developed by NordVPN

The change will not only affect Google Chrome but also other Chromium-based browsers, including Opera, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi.