Manifesto v3: Is Google finally winning the advertising battle?

Florian Bodoky

4.12.2023

Translation: machine translated

Google is introducing a new regulation for browser apps with the "Manifest v3" interface. Updates will soon have to undergo a review instead of simply being published. This has significant disadvantages for ad blockers, for example.

A little over a month ago, YouTube announced that it would be taking consistent action against ad blockers in future. Specifically, user accounts that use adblockers on YouTube will be temporarily blocked or forced to get a YouTube Premium account.

Since then, there has been a game of cat and mouse between Google and the developers of ad blocker software. While Google is probably secretly endeavouring to push its premium pricing plan in this way, developers such as UBlock Origin are constantly looking for new loopholes to avoid being found by Google's ad detectors.

Updates must go through store check

From next year, however, the tide could finally turn in Google's favour: With the introduction of Manifest v3, Google is introducing the rule that "remotely hosted code" must be mandatorily distributed via the Store. This means that app developers can no longer import updates to their apps directly.

This can be a decisive disadvantage for developers of ad blockers. YouTube changes its ad delivery system frequently - sometimes even several times a day, as Ron Amadeo, editor at Ars Technica, reports. In the current API (Manifest v2), this is not yet a major problem. Suppliers only need a few hours to create new filter lists so that the adverts can be blocked again.

When the third version of Manifest arrives in June 2024, however, things will look different. Developers are not only limited in the number of filter rules, but must first chase the code through Google's review process. Although this can be done quickly, it can take two to three weeks depending on the workload. According to Amadeo, developers should expect the workload to be constantly high when the use of Manifest v3 becomes mandatory. In addition, the extensions will no longer block or redirect browser requests themselves - only read them. This would severely limit the range of functions.

Amadeo also believes that Google will make deliberate use of this new advantage. "Google will force its competitors to slow down in the cat and mouse game between updates and counter-updates", he fears.

Florian Bodoky

Editor

Florian.Bodoky@digitecgalaxus.ch

I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue. more