Google Chrome’s long-running Manifest V2 phaseout is reaching another cleanup stage, with Chromium removing one more legacy flag tied to the old extension system.
The change landed in Chromium, the open-source browser codebase behind Google Chrome. It removes the kAllowLegacyMV2Extensions feature flag, previously used for testing unpacked Manifest V2 extensions on older Chrome builds. According to the commit message, no supported Chrome version supports Manifest V2 anymore, so the leftover flag is being removed from the codebase.
To be clear, this is not a new attack on one specific extension. It is part of the wider removal of Manifest V2, the older Chrome extension platform. For most users, the most visible consequence is the classic version of the uBlock Origin extension, which depended on Manifest V2’s more powerful request-blocking capabilities.
Manifest V2 allowed extensions to use blocking WebRequest functionality, letting tools such as uBlock Origin intercept and block network requests before they loaded. Google has replaced that model with Manifest V3, a newer extension framework that changes how content blockers work and limits parts of the old blocking approach.
That is why uBlock Origin Lite exists. It is the Manifest V3-compatible version of the popular ad blocker, but it is not a direct equivalent of the classic uBlock Origin. This original extension remains strongly associated with Manifest V2 because its full filtering model depends on capabilities Chrome is removing.
A related WebExtensions discussion points to Chrome 149 as the last version with full support for Manifest V2 and blocking WebRequest in regular extension installs. Chrome 150 and 151 remove remaining switches and workarounds, further closing the door on old-style extensions in Google’s browser.
Of course, this change affects more than uBlock Origin. Any extension still depending on Manifest V2-only APIs may be affected, including older ad blockers, privacy tools, request-control extensions, and internal legacy extensions never migrated to Manifest V3. Still, uBlock Origin remains the clearest example for ordinary users.
At the same time, the situation is a bit different outside Google Chrome. Firefox continues to support the classic uBlock Origin, and some Chromium-based browsers may choose different policies around Manifest V2 or blocking WebRequest support. In regular Google Chrome, however, the direction is clear: Manifest V2 is over, and Chromium is removing what remains of its legacy support code.
Brave has its own version of ublock origin written in rust plus the original ublock origin for manifest v2 and no script and umatrix and adguard all built into the browser and can be activated in settings without downloading anything.
I’m sticking with Firefox (when properly configured, it’s better than Brave).
I disagree. Brave is way better when configured.
So far Adguard seems to be doing a pretty good job. But there’s one thing I definitely miss with uBlock Origin: the ability to block elements within a page. Of course, I’m sure there are some extensions which can give you that ability as well,
Of course, if you don’t mind rolling up your sleeves and putting in some work, there is yet one other way to block ads which I seldom see mentioned anywhere: if you are using a browser or an extension which can inject CSS into a web page (like Stylus, for example) then you can actually write a stylesheet which can block ads, and it’s not as complicated as you might think. Just a simple list of domains with “{display: none !important}” at the end of the file. Using this in addition to an ad-blocking proxy like Privoxy or Squid and you’ll never see most ads, even without uBO/Adguard/other ad-blocking extension.
Brave supports Manifest V2 no idea if this change will effect them but brave has the original ublock origin built into if you want to activate it and 3 other extensions also. brave://settings/extensions/v2 You do not have to use it since brave already has its own version of it . I have both braves default and ublock orgin running together without issues.
Ublock Origin lite is not bad. I also have chromium snap installed also and I see no difference in what it blocks when using it even when on heavily ad infested websites. I also installed duckduckgo for the fire button which blocks stuff also I did however untick gpc in settings since is does nothing.
ublock lite gets rid of youtube ads and if you combine it with a dns ad blocker that comes with a vpn or use a free dns ad blocker like controlD you basically have everything covered anyways.
Librewolf (Firefox) brings the zen
Everything google is just nastier by the day if that is even possible. Of course be sure to use layers with a proper privacy respecting DNS service
I wonder how that will affect Helium.