EFF weighs in on Google Manifest V3

And it’s not pretty.

Since announcing Manifest V3 in 2018, Google has launched Manifest V3 in Chrome, started accepting Manifest V3 extensions in the Chrome Web Store, co-announced joining the W3C WebExtensions Community Group (formed in collaboration with Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla), and, most recently, laid out a timeline for Manifest V2 deprecation. New Manifest V2 extensions will no longer be accepted as of January 2022, and Manifest V2 will no longer function as of January 2023.

According to Google, Manifest V3 will improve privacy, security, and performance. We fundamentally disagree. The changes in Manifest V3 won’t stop malicious extensions, but will hurt innovation, reduce extension capabilities, and harm real world performance. Google is right to ban remotely hosted code (with some exceptions for things like user scripts), but this is a policy change that didn’t need to be bundled with the rest of Manifest V3.

Instead of working in true collaboration on the next iteration of browser extensions, Google expects Manifest V3 to be treated as a foregone conclusion. Participation in the WebExtensions group gives Google the veneer of collaboration even as it continues to do what it was going to do anyway. In short, Google enters the room as an 800-pound gorilla unwilling to listen or meaningfully work with the community.