JSON Formatter Chrome Plugin Now Closed and Injecting Adware

https://github.com/callumlocke/json-formatter

GitHub - callumlocke/json-formatter: Makes JSON easy to read.

Makes JSON easy to read. Contribute to callumlocke/json-formatter development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub

Noticed a suspicious element called give-freely-root-bcjindcccaagfpapjjmafapmmgkkhgoa in the chrome inspector today.

Turns out about a month ago, the popular open source [JSON Formatter chrome extension](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/json-formatter/bcji...) went closed source and started injecting adware into checkout pages. Also seems to be doing some geolocation tracking.

I didn't see this come up on hn, so I figured I'd sound the alarm for all the privacy-conscious folks here.

At this point, I feel like browser extension marketplaces are a failed experiment. I can just vibecode my own json pretty-printer extension and never deal with this problem again.

Before you continue

How did you "notice" a suspicious element in the inspector? Do you routinely look at the DOM?
I do. Then again, I’m a web developer so looking at the DOM is my day job.