Manifest V3 Two Years Later: Did Google Actually Break Ad Blockers?
Chrome forced all browser extensions onto declarativeNetRequest rules. We tested rule limits, DNS filtering, and whether Firefox is now mandatory.
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When Google announced Manifest V3 for Chromium extensions, privacy advocates sounded the alarm. By removing the dynamic webRequestBlocking API, extensions could no longer inspect and block incoming HTTP packets in real time. Instead, extensions had to submit static rule lists to the browser engine via declarativeNetRequest.
Two years after the mandatory transition, here is the real state of web ad blocking:
- uBlock Origin Lite: Works surprisingly well for standard ad banners and tracking scripts, but struggles with dynamic cosmetic element hiding on aggressive anti-adblock websites.
- Rule Limits: The 30,000 dynamic rule limit forces filter lists to truncate niche trackers.
- The Firefox Advantage: Mozilla Firefox implemented Manifest V3 while preserving the classic
webRequestBlockingAPI, making Firefox the gold standard for full web filtering power.
Written by Daniel Dano
danieldano.com ↗15-year-old software developer, founder of Ryla Labs (50,000+ monthly users across 12 countries), author of Built Young, and high school student leader.
Published by Daniel Dano & Ryla Labs Co-Editor & Hardware Photography: Jonathan Dano