"Privacy advocates have always argued that Google is an advertising company that just happens to build a browser. Most of us shrugged that off because, well, Chrome is fast, familiar, and hard to abandon. But Manifest V3 really does change the landscape. Google frames it as a technical upgrade for security and performance. Yet the underlying mechanics point to a different goal: reducing user control in ways that closely align with an ad-driven business model."
"If you haven't followed the architectural shift, it's a major one. Under Manifest V2, extensions like uBlock Origin acted almost like bouncers. They intercepted network requests as they happened and blocked ads and trackers before they even sniffed your screen. Manifest V3 takes that real-time authority away. Extensions must now hand Chrome a static, capped list of filtering rules, and Chrome decides what to honor. In effect, the browser now holds the veto power that once belonged to your chosen privacy tools."
"The fallout is noticeable right away. The strongest content blockers have lost their edge, becoming some of the best Chrome extensions that Google killed in their original forms. The developers behind uBlock Origin have already said that the fully featured version simply cannot exist under V3's restrictions. We, users, are instead funneled toward stripped-down "Lite" builds that lack dynamic filtering. And that's the very feature that stops sneaky scripts, reshapes messy pages, and blocks brand-new trackers the moment they appear."
Google Chrome’s recent architectural change, Manifest V3, replaces Manifest V2’s real-time network interception with a model requiring extensions to provide static, capped filter lists enforced by the browser. Under V3, extensions lose the ability to block new trackers and dynamic scripts immediately as they appear. Powerful content blockers cannot replicate their previous capabilities under the new restrictions, pushing users toward limited "Lite" builds that lack dynamic filtering. The shift centralizes filtering control within the browser and reduces user agency against ads, trackers, and sneaky scripts that reshape pages and invade privacy.
Read at MUO
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