Chrome to drop Manifest V2 support, ending ad blockers

Google Chrome is set to permanently disable a range of popular ad-blocking extensions in the coming weeks as it completes a years-long transition to a new browser extension framework. The change will render older extensions, including the widely used uBlock Origin, incompatible with the browser.

The transition centers on the shift from the older Manifest V2 extension platform to the newer, more restrictive Manifest V3. While Google began phasing out Manifest V2 support in 2024, the company is now preparing to remove the final technical workarounds that allowed some legacy extensions to continue functioning. This will occur with the upcoming releases of Chrome versions 150 and 151.

According to a code commit reviewed by developers, Google is removing a key flag that served as a backdoor for Manifest V2 extensions. A Google engineer stated that legacy extensions are no longer permitted in any supported version of Chrome, citing the complexity of maintaining the old code and associated security risks. The engineer noted that recent bugs have been specific to the Manifest V2 framework.

The core technical difference between the frameworks significantly alters how ad blockers operate....