It’s not really about updates or checking for them. Any browser addon that is supposed to interact with all websites, no matter how minor, needs those permissions. It is basically a filter for when you visit a website, if an addon is allowed to “see” the page/traffic. Even for changing the locale, this is needed.

Addons that won’t need this (and typically don’t, and you should check) are for example those that change the layout of YouTube, or hide videos on there based on type (like shorts) or keywords. They only need access permission for YouTube.com (and other country variations like .fr or .de).