I'm not up to date on this, but wasn't it actually impossible to really block ads on Chrome? As in, they aren't even loaded (that's what ABP does afaik), not me

I'm not up to date on this, but wasn't it actually impossible to really block ads on Chrome? As in, they aren't even loaded (that's what ABP does afaik), not merely hidden from display. I seem to remember this was the case a while ago, and I'm unsure if that has changed - Google being an ad company and all. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.