We’ve been anticipating it for years,1 and it’s finally happening. Google is finally killing uBlock Origin – with a note on their web store stating that the extension will soon no longer be available because it “doesn’t follow the best practices for Chrome extensions”.2 Daly Barnett. “Chrome Users Beware: Manifest V3 is Deceitful and Threatening.” EFF, December 9, 2021. ↩ Lawrence Abrams. “Google warns uBlock Origin and other extensions may be disabled soon.” Bleeping Computer, October 13, 2024. ↩

We’ve been anticipating it for years,1 and it’s finally happening. Google is finally killing uBlock Origin – with a note on their web store stating that the …

    • IndiBrony@lemmy.worldEnglish
      322·
      2 months ago

      I think you’re being optimistic about the number of people who both use adblockers and who care enough to switch browsers.

      • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
        18·
        2 months ago

        Yeah I fear society will get to the point in corporate autocracy, or corporate-feudalism where Google sues uBlock Origin out of existence (for lost revenue).

        …and that’ll be a dark day, and it will be hard not to blame the people who just put up with ads and a loss of privacy. Who can just stomach Surveillance Capitalism’s incredibly flawed and one sided nature.

        Those people are laying bricks for the foundation of a society I don’t agree with, and don’t want to participate in.

      • LWD@lemm.ee
        71·
        2 months ago

        Based on every browser statistic page I can find, about 2/3 of mobile traffic is through Google Chrome. There’s no ad blocker on that.

        And mobile traffic is significant nowadays - it comprises around half of all traffic anywhere, despite requiring the viewer to be hunched over a phone or tablet.

        • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
          4·
          2 months ago

          Not that many people use real computers any more. At work, you may need to use a computer, but you probably can’t change the browser. At home, you have the PCMR folks who use a computer and probably also care about browsers. Everyone else just uses a tablet or a phone for browsing the web.

          Speaking of the web, most people interact with specific websites through an app and an API, so they don’t even launch the mobile browser until they have to visit a site that doesn’t have an app. The world has changed and browsers aren’t as relevant as they used to be.

          • LWD@lemm.ee
            21·
            2 months ago

            Are there raw numbers on how many people use web browsers in general? Firefox releases a report, and it’s definitely been dipping, but that dip might be accounted for by a switch to other browsers (based on its percent of market share).

            I’d be curious if you had any good sources for this, because my searches are mostly yielding crappy listicle blogs.

            • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
              3·
              2 months ago

              I don’t have numbers that would directly address that. However, there are lots of statistics on the number of mobile users vs desktop users when it comes to the traffic in general. This trend has been clearly visible for about 15 years now.

              Here’s something I found on a short notice. link

    • davel [he/him]@lemmy.mlEnglish
      12·
      2 months ago

      What? They’re not going to kill their own browser that they virtually exclusively control. Why would they kill one of their biggest cash cows? Google is an ad company, and they want control of the client software that we use which they pump ads to and exfiltrate our identities from.

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
        62·
        2 months ago

        Whoosh

        I think they were talking about Chrome becoming obsolete. Unlikely but not impossible