Popular ad blocker uBlock Origin Lite pulled from Firefox store

Neowin reports that the popular ad blocking add-on uBlock Origin Lite has been removed from Firefox’s official add-on marketplace due to a recent conflict that’s been brewing.

uBlock Origin Lite’s developer Raymond Hill has been butting heads with Mozilla since early September, when Mozilla inexplicably flagged every version of uBlock Origin Lite for violating Firefox policies.

Related: Google is killing ad blocker extension uBlock Origin

The uBlock Origin Lite add-on was also accused of collecting user data and running afoul of privacy concerns, which is one of the big reasons why people switch over to the Firefox browser in the first place. Hill responded: “It takes only a few seconds for anyone who has even basic understanding of JavaScript to see the raised issues make no sense.”

Mozilla later admitted in an email that they had made a mistake regarding the extension, but Hill has ultimately decided to cease development of the uBlock Origin Lite add-on for Firefox.

He cites the “hostile” and “nonsensical” nature of Mozilla’s add-on approval process for why he’s no longer willing to maintain a uBlock Origin Lite branch for Firefox:

“The Firefox version of uBO Lite will cease to exist, I am dropping support because of the added burden of dealing with AMO nonsensical and hostile review process.

[…]

However often keep looking into all this, every time I can only conclude the feedback from Mozilla Add-ons Team to have been nonsensical and hostile, and as a matter of principle I won’t partake into this nonsensical and hostile review process.”

uBlock Origin Lite has been permanently removed from the Firefox Marketplace and the final approved self-hosted version — uBOLite_2024.9.22.986 — will remain available as a release package on GitHub. No further versions will be released.

Further reading: Good ad blockers that aren’t uBlock Origin