Google Automatically Disables uBlock Origin Adblocker on Google Chrome
On March 4, 2025, Google Chrome automatically disabled uBlock Origin, an adblocker, for all users as part of shift to MV3 version of Chrome
Background
Released in 2014, uBlock Origin is a comprehensive adblocker that search engine users may install as an extension to avoid advertisements while searching the web. Given the ever present nature of advertisements on search engines, uBlock Origin provides users with a faster and less obtrusive search engine experience.
In 2018, Google announced that it would begin a shift to a new version of Google Chrome extension manifest called MV3 "to create stronger security, privacy, and performance guarantees."[1] In 2020, Google released a beta version of MV3.[2] By early 2022, Google Chrome disallowed users to release extensions on the Chrome Extension Store, also known as the Chrome Webstore, that were only incompatible with MV3.[3]
[Incident]
[Company]'s response
Lawsuit
Consumer response
Users can still browse the web without ads and with reduced tracking by switching to a browser which continues to support Manifest V2 and the full version of uBlock Origin, such as Mozilla Firefox.
References
- ↑ https://blog.chromium.org/2018/10/trustworthy-chrome-extensions-by-default.html.
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(help) - ↑ https://blog.chromium.org/2020/12/manifest-v3-now-available-on-m88-beta.html.
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(help) - ↑ https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/develop/migrate/mv2-deprecation-timeline.
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(help)