Google Chrome Deals Fatal Blow To UBlock Origin Extension

For years, hacks kept uBlock Origin alive on Chrome despite the transition to Manifest V3. Google has just closed the last door, and this time there is no handle inside.

Chrome’s transition to Manifest V3, the new framework that governs extensions, has been going on for years and has just entered its final phase. Current versions of the browser are now the last to allow room for maneuver.ux extensions Manifest V2 like uBlock Origin, and a technical discussion thread opened in mid-May in the W3C GitHub repository highlighted how quickly this margin is closing.

What is disappearing, and at what rate?

Chrome 149 is the last version to fully function Manifest V2 and the blocking webRequest API on a classic installation, this API being precisely what gives uBlock Origin its ability to intercept and filter any network request. Chrome 150 has already lost the internal flag which allowed you to reactivate V2 extensions, the installation of which from the Chrome Web Store is no longer possible.

Chrome 151 will make the remaining options disappear, including those that served as a spare tire, and the well-known Windows registry hack, which artificially extended compatibility, will also stop working. Part of the code will survive for a while (Google has warned that not everything will disappear at once), but the deadline is no longer in doubt for tens of millions of users concerned.

Why is Google focusing on ad blockers?

The timetable for this transition stretches over nearly a decade. Google announced Manifest V3 back in 2018, introduced it with Chrome 88 in early 2021, then pushed back its deadline several times under pressure from developers, to the point that the January 2024 date initially set for the kill has slipped by more than two years. Deactivation really began at the end of 2024 on stable versions, and it is today, in 2026, that the last lock is lifted, for a change presented from start to finish as a simple improvement in security. The company justifies the withdrawal by complexity, technical debt and security, mentioning in passing that several bugs specific to Manifest V2 were discovered recently.

Manifest V3 replaces the blocking webRequest API with a declarative system, declarativeNetRequest, which limits the number of filtering rules and restricts the most aggressive anti-circumvention techniques, those for which uBlock Origin is famous. However, the company that imposes this framework is also the leading advertising agency on the planet, and its browser will account for more than 71% of the global market at the start of 2026.

Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney summed up the most popular reading by accusing Google of using its browser dominance to consolidate its advertising monopolyan accusation that the company rejects by emphasizing security and performance. The argument is not entirely window dressing, since an extension equipped with webRequest blocking sees all of the user’s network traffic pass through, which constitutes a real attack surface, even if we may find it convenient, for an advertising seller, that security involves precisely weakening the blockers.

In Europe, the question takes on particular relevance, since Chrome is among the pivotal services designated under the DMA, the regulation supposed to prevent digital giants from abusing their position, and the debate on the control that Google exercises over the extensions ecosystem is right in line with this logic of self-preference.

For those who want a complete blockage, the exit doors remain open: Firefox retains support for Manifest V2 and V3, and browsers based on Chromium such as Brave or the Norwegian Vivaldi maintain compatibility for the moment. uBlock Origin Lite, designed for Manifest V3, also exists, but its creator Raymond Hill himself presents it as a lighter version which has sacrificed some of its functions, with filtering which sometimes turns to site-by-site authorization. The decision that awaits tens of millions of Chrome users now comes down to two options: change browser, or agree to see a little more advertising.