Microsoft is ending support for Manifest V2, the older extensions platform that powers uBlock Origin and similar ad blockers, in its Edge browser. According to The Verge, the shutdown begins this month for regular users, with enterprise customers getting a reprieve until early 2027.
The move follows Google, which cut off Manifest V2 extensions in Chrome earlier this year. Because Edge is built on the same underlying Chromium engine as Chrome, it has largely inherited Google's extension roadmap — and now its deadlines too.
Microsoft is framing the change as low-impact. The company says there are only 58 extensions on the Edge Add-On Store "with any meaningful usage" that are affected, per The Verge's report. That number is small, but it undersells the significance for the people who rely on those specific tools: uBlock Origin is among the most widely used content blockers on the web, and its author has said the extension's design depends on capabilities Manifest V2 provides.
As Techmeme summarized the reporting by Stevie Bonifield at The Verge, Microsoft's plan means uBlock Origin users are losing one of their remaining browser options. Anyone who switched from Chrome to Edge specifically to keep the classic version of the blocker running will need to look elsewhere again.
The staggered timeline is telling. Consumers lose access first; businesses, which often depend on custom internal extensions and have more leverage, get an extra year and a half to adapt.
Why it matters: as the two largest Chromium-based browsers close the door on Manifest V2 within months of each other, the technical ceiling on how aggressively an extension can filter what you see online is being set by the companies that sell ads, and users who want stronger blocking are running out of mainstream places to go.