Google cancels Chrome extension APIs that blocked adblockers

In October 2018, Google developers announced Manifest V3, a new standard for developing extensions for its Chrome web browser. One of the modifications included replacing the API used by extensions that need to intercept and work with network requests. The new API, DeclarativeNetRequest, limits the number of network requests an extension can access; the result was to muzzle third-party adblockers but not the new one Google was building in. Google claimed that implementing a maximum value was necessary because of the performance impact. In February 2019, the team behind the Ghostery adblocker found that this was not true because adblockers were already very efficient. Shortly after the study's publication, Google announced it would relax the new rules.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-backtracks-on-chrome-modifications-that-would-have-crippled-ad-blockers/
Writer: Catalin Cimpanu
Publication: ZDNet