Manifesting Google’s destiny: Manifest V3 and adblocking.
Hello folks,
I wanted to talk about this week’s news on chrome related to some of my older postings. Specifically, this is about the rollout of chrome’s manifest v3 framework and the impacts it may have on adblocking. Will it be the end of adblockers as we know them? Let’s dig into the details and find out together.
The Electronic Frontier foundation has long cautioned the rollout to manifest V3 as a potentially anti-consumer experience due to how impactful advertising on the web has been [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/chrome-users-beware-manifest-v3-deceitful-and-threatening]. This isn’t because advertisers are inherently evil, but rather because they lead to a slower computer and browsing experience, often contain unwanted and not asked for tracking of users, to downright scummy popup like tactics to get users to click when they really didn’t mean to. Worse yet, some advertising networks fail to flag malicious ads, leading to ads on scams, malware or even bitcoin miners while users are browsing away with needless caution. [https://securityaffairs.com/66204/hacking/cryptocurrency-miners-browser.html]
Some fun facts about manifest v3, the overall file structure is based on manifest json types. JSON as you may recall is short for Javascript Object Notation. A manifest file is often akin to a configuration file which helps extensions run in your chromium-based browsers. This means that when version tooling changes, the manifest.json file is simply updated with a “v3” flag instead of the current “v2” in order to specify instructions to the browser. [https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/develop/migrate]
Currently, The Verge is reporting that beta, dev (very beta) and canary (daily beta) versions will see changes today, June 3rd [https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/30/24168057/google-chrome-extension-change-manifest-v3-ad-blockers]. For other browsers which rely on chromium builds such as Opera or Vivaldi or even your favorite Electron apps (Oh, and these can have security issues as well) may receive this update to their own internal extensions as well. I don’t believe this change will impact Microsoft Edge which uses a tweaked and customized chromium engine running atop Windows. It also may not impact android or iOS-based chrome which must rely on other means in order to implement adblocking.
The most interesting area this shift may have an impact on is the business sector. Many larger organizations have utilized enterprise adblocking from their IT department for their network communications. This could be implemented in a number of ways, but I’ve seen firsthand chrome based adblocking extensions used in some banking sectors. While the verge’s article claims that 85% of the extensions already support manifest V3, there may be some which your company relies upon which don’t currently meet this standard [https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/30/24168057/google-chrome-extension-change-manifest-v3-ad-blockers]. If you’re a system administrator, it may be worth reviewing your company’s internal policy on adblocking and traffic filtering to see if something needs to change with the manifest V3 rollout.
My first recommendation would be to explore options with manifestV3 support. Adguard has one such option available for chrome users at the moment [https://adguard.com/en/blog/chrome-manifest-v3-where-we-stand.html]. For non-chrome users, your mileage may vary. Another option is to implement alternative adblocking measures, such as using an ad filtering VPN service or an at-home Pi-hole solution [https://www.instructables.com/Pi-Hole/]. Even moreso, you can use a public DNS service also offered by Adguard in order to block pesky ads [https://adguard-dns.io/en/public-dns.html]. The possibilities aren’t exactly endless, but the options are there.
One thing you shouldn’t do is continue to use simple solutions like AdBlock Plus, as doing so has been demonstrated to slow down your browser’s performance with effectiveness on adblocking highly dependent on the filters it chooses to apply. Your mileage may vary. [ https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/194dflx/youtube_slow_with_adblockplus/]
That’s all for this heads-up, folks. Thanks for reading and remember,
Stay Safe.
