Not sure if you can or not, but you can use this: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/extensions-update-...

Which pops up a toast notification whenever an extension gets updated so you can investigate (Chrome doesn't force changelogs on updates either so you might have to dig deeper into the code).

If you don't mind having another extension which could be doing nefarious things.

Thanks, it's better than nothing at least.

[Rant: the whole concept of auto-update-by-default is stupid. /Rant]

If there was something like »Updates for your extensions are available, install them now?« would it really help or would most users just say »yes«? They'd have no way of verifying that the update is benign or not anyway.

It should be more like "Updates for your extensions are available; they will be installed when Chrome is restarted. [OK] [Cancel automatic updates]".

Or basically anything that gives you the option to avoid doing so.

I've never been a fan of automatic updates for this reason. Changing things silently, while seemingly praised by some "usability experts", implies taking away user choice and replacing it with submissiveness. It's creepy.