uBlock Origin Lite maker ends Firefox store support, slams Mozilla for hostile reviews

If you use Firefox and the uBlock Origin Lite content blocker from the Firefox Add-ons Store, be aware that the extension is no longer supported. Raymond Hill, the maker of the extension, pulled support and moved uBlock Origin Lite to self-hosting after multiple encounters with a "nonsensical and hostile" review process from the store review team.

It all started in early September when Mozilla flagged every version of the uBlock Origin Lite extension as violating its policies. Reviewers then claimed the extension apparently collected user data and contained "minified, concatenated or otherwise machine-generated code." The developer seemingly debunked those allegations, saying that "it takes only a few seconds for anyone who has even basic understanding of JavaScript to see the raised issues make no sense."

Raymond Hill decided to drop the extension from the store and move it to a self-hosted version. This means that those who want to continue using uBlock Origin Lite on Firefox should download the latest version from GitHub (it can auto-update itself).

The last message from the developer in a now-closed GitHub issue shows an email from Mozilla admitting its fault and apologizing for the mistake. However, Raymond still pulled the extension from the Mozilla Add-ons Store, which means you can no longer find it on addons.mozilla.org.

It is worth noting that the original uBlock Origin for Firefox is still available and supported. The Lite version is a Manifest V3-based extension with a lighter and more efficient load on resources, such as processor and memory. Hill recently recommended switching to uBlockOrigin Lite after Chrome started flagging the extension as unsupported (there is a way to circumvent that). Contrary to Chrome, Mozilla does not plan to drop the Manifest V2-based extensions in the near future, so uBlock Origin will continue to exist and work on Firefox and other browsers with MV2 support.

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