Support for Older Chrome Extensions Is Dropped by Google

Google has finally made the decision to stop supporting the older Manifest V2 Chrome extensions, after years of delays.

Ziare claims that many of the Chrome extensions still in use will soon stop working as a result of this major update. Google is taking this action in an effort to promote the usage of Manifest V3, a new extension standard intended to improve user data collecting and ad marketing on platforms such as Google Ads.

The company's long-term goal has been to alter the Chrome extension system in order to counteract privacy- and ad-blocking programs, which mostly use the antiquated Manifest V2 standard.

Make the switch to Manifest V3

The official adoption of the new Manifest V3 format was scheduled for 2021, but things have moved slowly. The usefulness of well-known addons like AdBlock has been drastically reduced, rendering them almost useless.

The creators of these extensions, though, have begun adjusting to the modifications. Although Google sees the switch to Manifest V3 as a success, as developers are required to provide new solutions, the change may not have a big long-term impact.

Notable companies like AdGuard, uBlock Origin, and Adblock Plus are among those who oppose this change, claiming that it would make it more difficult for customers to block advertisements and adequately secure their privacy.

What Users Are Able To Do

With the release of Chrome Beta, outdated extensions are already being deactivated. It may take many months to update to Google Chrome's stable version.

The extensions that will be deactivated are the ones that have not had updates recently, are rather esoteric, and were installed a long time ago. It is advised that users who depend on these outdated Chrome extensions look for more recent options right once. Changing to an alternate web browser, such as Firefox, is an additional choice.

Firefox's creator, Mozilla, has said that it has no immediate plans to stop supporting V2 extensions.

As one of the few current browsers that does not utilize the Chromium rendering engine, Firefox enables Mozilla to defy Google's inclinations about extensions and provide users with greater flexibility.