Open source, audited extensions. I noticed this already exists in Firefox (https://mzl.la/3Acn4DU https://mzl.la/3Acn4DU), I don't know of any auditors for Chro

Open source, audited extensions. I noticed this already exists in Firefox (https://mzl.la/3Acn4DU https://mzl.la/3Acn4DU), I don't know of any auditors for Chrome extensions. Have some trusted organization or group (like Google or Mozilla themselves) who run audits on extensions to "certify" they don't have any malware. Additionally, the extensions are all 100% open-source, so if the "trusted organization" is compromised (or just bad at their job), they'll get caught and people will stop using them. This isn't foolproof. Adware can be hidden from even the auditor or the auditor can be compromised but nobody finds out. It's also expensive and time-consuming, especially for extensions with a lot of complex code, so many popular extensions which perfectly-fine are still not certified. Updates are delayed and discouraged because the diff always has to be audited as well. Lastly (and something which can easily be overlooked), the auditors can be biased towards approving some extensions (like those who pay them) while not approving others: extensions code won't be approved if their code is too hard to read or they are later in the review queue, but the line at which code is considered "too hard to read" and their position in the queue could easily be influenced by cash. Nonetheless, web extensions are a good type of software to audit, compared to other software like apps. They're often much smaller and simpler, users need much less, and they operate in a very-trusted domain (all web browing, including in banks and other confidential sites. Compare this to apps on a sandboxed phone, or programs running in user mode on a computer, the damage is still there but it's much less)