Google: Chrome will not ban ad blockers but better guarantee privacy

Google has explained the proposed changes to Chrome that would limit the functioning of ad blockers. According to the search company, the changes ensure that extensions do not have full access to all sensitive data of users.

Google does not claim to prevent the development of blocking extensions, nor to prevent users from blocking advertisements. “We want to help developers, including ad blockers, write extensions in a way that protects users’ privacy,” Google said, repeating earlier arguments.

According to the company, the advent of the declarativeNetRequest API, which replaces parts of the web request API, means that extensions can no longer access all of users’ sensitive data. Many ad blockers work based on the use of the webRequest API . Google claims that users are allowing Chrome to pass all network requests through the extensions, “including email, photos, and other sensitive information.” This would not be the case with the declarativeNetRequest API, and it would also reduce overhead, resulting in better performance.

Google does not respond substantively to the criticism of ad blockers that the changes will seriously hinder their work and the company also does not seem to accommodate those parties. For example, uBlock Origin claims that the changes limit the number of adblocking filters to be used to thirty thousand, while that extension uses more than ninety thousand filters. Google presented the changes in October last year under the name Manifest V3.

How adblockers work now and with Manifext V3 according to Google