Google’s recent updates to Chrome have made some popular ad blockers inoperable, and the company’s intentions are under scrutiny. In an interview with Ghostery, a German company that operates an ad-blocker extension and other privacy products, I discussed the implications of Chrome’s Manifest V3 changes.
According to Krzysztof Modras, the director of engineering and product at Ghostery, the most significant limitation of Manifest V3 is the removal of extension access to the browser’s network layer. This change will significantly limit innovation in the privacy space and disable advanced on-device protection.
The new standard requires effective extensions to request access to every single website, making users more vulnerable to rogue actions. Modras also pointed out that other extensions can still get access to user data, creating a potential security vulnerability.
Is Google intentionally hampering ad blockers?
Ghostery’s CEO, Jean-Paul Schmetz, believes that Google sees user-installable extensions as a detriment to Chrome as a browser and a platform. He thinks that Google is trying to make Chrome a more predictable platform, but this change will ultimately limit the effectiveness of ad blockers.
Schmetz recommends that users move away from Chrome entirely and switch to Firefox, which is the only major browser that will avoid this change. He also suggests using Ghostery’s own Ghostery Private Browser, which is based on Firefox.
The future of browsers may see a shift away from Chrome’s dominance, especially if younger users start to prefer new ways of interacting with the internet, such as video-based browsing. With growing awareness of Google’s power and the need for more competition, the browser landscape may change significantly in the coming years.