Vivaldi will retain support for third-party ad blockers

Google is determined to abandon the old browser API Chromium and move to a new, substantially curtailed version of the manifest for third-party extensions. Theoretically, these changes apply to all Chromium-based browsers, but some developers have already stated that they will continue to support the old extensions. Translation notes ZDNet.

Opera, Brave and Vivaldi will ignore changes to the Chromium code and retain the support of third-party ad blockers.

Despite common roots (all three browsers are based on Chromium), Opera, Brave and Vivaldi do not plan to abandon support for third-party ad blockers and other defensive extensions. Although other browsers do not agree with Google’s decision, they don’t seem to resist.
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Chromium is an open source project. Many popular browsers are based on it: Chrome, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi, etc. However, Google makes the main contribution to its development. Opera, Brave and Vivaldi have already confirmed to the ZDNet editorial staff that they are not going to give up the old API and support for third-party ad blockers.

Passion around Manifest v3

Google announced its plans back in October 2018 : the company is developing a new set of standards, called Manifest v3, and the new rules will inevitably affect the work of some really popular extensions designed for Chomium.

It took third-party developers a few months to understand the new system and understand what exactly Google is offering. The company intends to significantly simplify the expansion , almost completely abandoning the technology underlying most of the content blockers.

At first it was thought that only ad blockers would suffer. However, it has now become clear that the proposed changes will also affect defensive extensions (such as those offered by antiviruses), extensions intended for parental control, as well as blockers for hidden advertising trackers designed to protect users' personal data.

Chromium users also did not stand aside. Most of them tend to believe that in this simple way, Google simply tries to get rid of independent ad blockers, because it is from advertising that the company gets the bulk of its profits. The search giant has been sharply criticized and condemned by the Internet public.

A little later, Google promised to take into account all the comments, but the changes proposed in February 2019 leave no doubt: the company is not going to abandon its plans. The maximum that we can count on is an easy adjustment of very stringent requirements.

At the end of May 2019, Google made a statement again: this time it became known that the old technology, on which third-party ad blockers relied, would still continue its work, but only in a special version of the browser designed for corporate clients. The fate of ordinary users, it seems, few people care ...

It seems that this is the only concessions that are ready to go to Google. The changes should take effect in January 2020. Most likely, already in the coming Christmas holidays, you will notice that your ad blocker began to work much worse ...

Users are indignant, and many of them are ready to change the browser. The main alternative to Chrome is still Firefox. Once he was in the lead in the browser race, but now he plays the role of a catch-up and is forced to invent new chips to expand the audience. The main one was the emphasis on confidentiality.

However, the problem concerns not only Chrome users: the changes in question will be made directly to Chromium, which means that most Chromium-based browsers will be affected.

Brave

Brave Software CEO Brendan Eich told ZDNet in an email that Brave will continue to support the old API, which Google is so hard to get rid of: "We will continue to support webRequest for all extensions in Brave." In addition, as an alternative to the usual ad blockers, Brave users can use the built-in Shields filter.

Eich also stressed that they will continue to support the popular uBlock Origin and uMatrix, extensions developed by Raymond Hill. It was he who drew public attention to the highly controversial actions of Google. Hill is confident that Google is aware of the consequences of its actions and is simply trying to protect its advertising business.

Opera

We received a similar response from the developers of the Opera browser. The new version of the browser is also based on Chromium, which means that any changes in the code may also affect Opera users.

“We can continue to support the old APIs, even if Google refuses them. For more than 300 million users who have chosen Opera, this should not be a significant problem, ”a company representative told us.

The reason is simple: the browser also has its own ad blocker. “All our browsers (from PC to mobile devices) are equipped with a built-in ad blocker. Its activation takes only a couple of clicks. In other words, even if these changes affect us, many of our users will not even notice them and will continue to use the built-in advertising filter, ”the official statement says.

The built-in blocker hardly differs from the usual extensions: users can also import the lists they need and configure the blocking for individual domains.

Vivaldi

Vivaldi is another rather popular browser based on Chromium. On June 3, 2019, an explanation of their position on this issue appeared in the official blog of the development team: regardless of the decision that the developers finally make, users should have a choice.

“How exactly we respond to changes in the browser's API depends on what restrictions Google will bring to the project,” explains Petter Nielsen, senior developer of Vivaldi, “So far, all changes are only hypothetical, and there are many possible scenarios development of events. It’s too early to talk about anything concrete. In theory, we could restore the deleted API on our own (to be honest, we already had to do these things). If the API is completely removed, and no alternative solutions are offered, we could create our own gallery for selected extensions. ”

“And in the end, everything is not so scary: whatever restrictions Google put on Chromium, we can still remove them. Whatever happens, we will always strive to ensure that our users have a choice, ”added Nielsen.

Edge

The only truly major developer who never responded to our request was Microsoft. In 2018, the company said it was from its own engine EdgeHTML in favor of Chromium. Now a new version of the Edge browser, based on Chromium, is at the stage of open testing. Microsoft's plans for Manifest v3 are not yet known.

Translation: Alex Semnov-Sherin

Original article in English