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Let’s see, you landed on my “Google Ads” space, and with three houses… that will be $1,400.
Ron Amadeo / Hasbro
Google’s campaign against ad blockers is ramping up, with YouTube and Chrome making moves to thwart ad blockers and limit their effectiveness. An insightful article from Engadget sheds light on the escalating battle and emphasizes the significant advantage that YouTube and Chrome have over ad blockers in terms of rapid updates and changes.
Manifest V3, the latest extension platform from Chrome, presents substantial changes and limitations for extension developers, allowing YouTube and Chrome to have the upper hand in adapting their ad delivery systems. This intentionally puts ad blockers at a disadvantage by delaying their ability to respond quickly to these changes.
One of the major changes in Manifest V3 is the replacement of the “WebRequest API” with a more restricted filtering API that offers less control to ad blockers. Additionally, the “declarativeNetRequest” API imposes restrictions on the number and effectiveness of filtering rules, making it challenging for ad blockers to keep pace with YouTube’s frequent adaptations.
With the impending mandatory implementation of Manifest V3, ad blockers and privacy apps will no longer have the ability to swiftly update and apply filter lists, as all updates must go through the Chrome Web Store review process, leading to significant delays.
Developers in the filtering extension community have voiced difficulties in keeping up with YouTube’s evolving ad blocker detection methods due to the rapid pace at which they are being updated. This constant cat-and-mouse game between YouTube and ad blockers puts the latter at a constant disadvantage, especially once Manifest V3 becomes mandatory.
While Firefox is compelled to support Manifest V3 extensions due to Chrome’s popularity, it vows to preserve and uphold users’ access to effective privacy tools, without imposing the same filtering limitations that come with Manifest V3.
The introduction of Manifest V3 also entails a prolonged review process for any changes made to extensions submitted to the Chrome Web Store, ranging from hours to several weeks. This will further slow ad blockers’ response to YouTube’s ad blocking updates, giving the latter an unfair advantage.
Although Google claims that Manifest V3 will improve privacy, security, and performance, critics argue that its impact on these aspects is minimal at best. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Mozilla have both criticized Google’s justifications for Manifest V3, further underscoring its potential to hinder privacy and security-centric extensions.
For now, Chrome continues to operate as usual, but the mandatory adoption of Manifest V3 in June 2024 heralds significant changes for ad blockers, privacy apps, and Chrome extensions.
