Hello, this most likely has to do with the extension being a legacy extension. Legacy extensions no longer work as of Firefox 57 and for that particular add-on to work again, the developer has to convert it to the new WebExtensions format.

More information: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-add-technology-modernizing

To find a replacement try this helpful website: https://mozilla.github.io/extension-finder/

Thank you, but there is no new information in this answer. Yes, RT is now a 'legacy' extension which is just another way of saying that it hasn't been 'migrated' to the new version of firefox. I.e. it no longer works. RT is a large organization and would be expected to have ample resources to update their APIs. So my question remains. Is this a politically motivated development?

jps07 said

Is this a politically motivated development?

Is that you - POTUS ?

jps07 said

So my question remains. Is this a politically motivated development?

This change to web extensions was known for a long time and was going to happen regardless if this extension existed or not.

Hi jps07, RT's extensions are made by RT, not by Mozilla. While Mozilla has encouraged add-on publishers to update, it is not going to step in and take over RT's development for them.

Firefox 57 uses a similar approach to extensions as that used in Chrome in recent years. RT has a version of the RT News extension for Chrome (here), so they should be able to move that over to Firefox easily if they want to.

Please let them know you care and encourage them if you value this add-on.

"Is that you...POTUS?" Haha regrettably not.

Thanks jscher2000 for this, from which I will take the answer "no" to my original question. Perhaps I'm just slightly paranoid. On the other hand.. can't take too much care.

No politics, moving on from Netscape : https://www.howtogeek.com/333230/why-firefox-had-to-kill-your-favorite-extension/

Pkshadow thanks for the very informative link