Technology Google Manifest V3 may lead to Adblocker Blocklist update delays

[Freki123]

Content source

https://www.engadget.com/inside-the-arms-race-between-youtube-and-ad-blockers-140031824.html

Now, Modras said, YouTube seems to be “adapting [its] methods more frequently than ever before. To counteract its changes to ad delivery and ad blocker detection, block lists have to be updated at minimum on a daily basis, and sometimes even more often. While all players in the space are innovating, some ad blockers are simply unable to keep up with these changes.”

Keeping pace with YouTube will likely become even more challenging next year, when Google’s Chrome browser adopts the Manifest V3 standard, which significantly limits what extensions are allowed to do. Modras said that under Manifest V3, whenever an ad blocker wants to update its blocklist — again, something they may need to do multiple times a day — it will have to release a full update and undergo a review “which can take anywhere between [a] few hours to even a few weeks.”

“Through Manifest V3, Google will close the door for innovation in the ad blocking landscape and introduce another layer of gatekeeping that will slow down how ad blockers can react to new ads and online tracking methods,” he said.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Heard that it's not going to be as much of a major issue as it seems due to Google increasing the number of dynamic rules to 30,000. Dynamic rules can be updated without requiring an extension update. So dynamic rules + the new differential update mechanism will be enough for most users using popular filters like uBO, EasyList and all Adguard filters.