For several years now, Google has wanted to ditch Chrome’s current extension system in favor of a more restrictive system, creating more restrictions on filtering out extensions that block ads and/or work to protect user privacy. The new extension system, dubbed “Manifest V3,” technically hit the stable channel in January 2021, but Chrome still supports the older, more powerful system, Manifest V2. The first steps toward tapering off Manifest V2 should begin in January 2023, but when 9to5 first saw Google, Google now says it has delayed the mandatory move to Manifest V3 and won’t release a new timeline for it until March. finished shutting down V2.
The old timeline started in January 2023, when beta versions of Chrome would start running “experiments” that disable Manifest V2. This would move to the stable version in June, with the Chrome Web Store banning Manifest V2 extensions in January 2024. The new timeline is that there is no timeline and each step is now shown as ‘postponed’ or ‘under review’.
Commenting on the delay, Simeon Vincent, developer of Chrome extensions, says: “We’ve heard your feedback on common challenges posed by the migration, particularly the service rep’s inability to use DOM capabilities and the current hard limit. for the life of extension service workers. We mitigate the former with the Offscreen Documents API (added in Chrome 109) and actively work to resolve the latter.” After adding that each step of the timeline is on hold, Vincent said, “Expect to hear more about the updated phase-out plan and schedule by March 2023.”
Google’s statement only addresses the second controversial change in Manifest V3: disabling an extension’s ability to open a hidden background page due to background processing. Google wants all processing to take place in the background in service workers, but that’s a complicated environment compared to normal web development and has many more limitations. Google’s delay is only about trying to fix some of these background limitations.
Google’s post makes no mention of filter add-ons, so it doesn’t sound like the world’s largest ad company is changing its mind about ad blockers. The big problem for those extensions is killing the “WebRequest API”, which allows adblockers and other filtering tools to modify Chrome’s network requests on the fly. Usually this is used to create huge lists of websites (ad servers) that the extensions want to block access to. Google has more or less thrown these extensions a bone by creating a new API that allows for a limited URL blocking list, but this is just a static list of 30,000 URLs, while a typical uBlock Origin install comes with 300,000 dynamic ones. filter rules. Some ad blockers will try to play within these rules with the Manifest V3 version, but Google is going to erode their effectiveness and not want to implement any of the logical solutions that would allow them to continue to function at their current level.
“Deceptive and threatening”
Google started this mess in 2018 with a blog post outlining a plan for “trusted Chrome extensions by default”. As part of the Manifest V3 rollout, Google’s official narrative is that it wanted to reduce “over-broad access” to extensions, and that a narrower extension platform would enable “higher-performing” extensions. The nice side effect of all that is more limited ad blocking, which would benefit Google’s bottom line. The old timeline would have And last but not least implemented the full Manifest V3 transition six years after this first blog post, but now it sounds like it will take even longer.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation does not believe in Google’s sales pitch, calling Manifest V3 “deceptive and threatening” about a year ago. The EFF said Manifest V3 “will limit the capabilities of web extensions, especially those designed to monitor, adjust and calculate beyond the conversation your browser has with the websites you visit.” The privacy group said it’s “doubtful that Mv3 will do much for security too” as it only restricts the filtering of website content, not its collection, so malicious extensions can still suck up all your data. The EFF also says that performance is not a valid excuse, citing a study showing that downloading and displaying ads degrades browser performance. If Google is concerned about security, it better monitor extension storage.
The Chrome team seems determined to take a hit lately. The group also refused to block tracking cookies until it can first build a tracking and advertising system into Chrome (this has also been repeatedly delayed). If people get tired of Chrome’s user-hostile changes that support Google’s business model, there are alternatives. Some Chromium-based forks like Brave and Vivaldi have promised to keep Manifest V2 working when Google disables it. Of course, there’s also always Firefox, which says it will move to Manifest V3 along with Google, but will re-add the WebRequest API that filtering add-ons rely on.
