diff --git a/compose.yaml b/compose.yaml
index 6676a87bd570..6809d6994b6c 100644
--- a/compose.yaml
+++ b/compose.yaml
@@ -982,7 +982,7 @@ services:
         clang_tools: ${CLANG_TOOLS}
         llvm: ${LLVM}
         pyodide_version: "0.26.0"
-        chrome_version: "148"
+        chrome_version: "latest"
         selenium_version: "4.41.0"
         required_python_min: "(3,12)"
         python: ${PYTHON}
diff --git a/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake b/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake
index 07054b4bb295..4eab2ab20869 100644
--- a/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake
+++ b/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake
@@ -2073,7 +2073,9 @@ function(build_protobuf)
         "-DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="
         "-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${PROTOBUF_HOST_PREFIX}"
         -Dprotobuf_BUILD_TESTS=OFF
-        -Dprotobuf_DEBUG_POSTFIX=)
+        -Dprotobuf_DEBUG_POSTFIX=
+        # OFF to avoid conda include dirs leaking into vendored Abseil
+        -Dprotobuf_WITH_ZLIB=OFF)
     if(ABSL_VENDORED)
       # Force protobuf to reuse Arrow's already-extracted absl source
       # so we don't re-download and we don't have issues with multiple abseil.
diff --git a/python/scripts/run_emscripten_tests.py b/python/scripts/run_emscripten_tests.py
index 3cd7d5fd67b3..002698a77e2b 100644
--- a/python/scripts/run_emscripten_tests.py
+++ b/python/scripts/run_emscripten_tests.py
@@ -289,6 +289,14 @@ def _load_pyarrow_in_runner(driver, wheel_name):
     await pjs.loadPackage("numpy")
     await pjs.loadPackage("pandas")
     import pytest
+    import inspect
+    if "exc_type" not in inspect.signature(pytest.importorskip).parameters:
+        _original_importorskip = pytest.importorskip
+        def _importorskip(modname, minversion=None, reason=None, *,
+                          exc_type=ImportError):
+            return _original_importorskip(modname, minversion=minversion,
+                                          reason=reason)
+        pytest.importorskip = _importorskip
     import pandas # import pandas after pyarrow package load for pandas/pyarrow
                   # functions to work
 import pyarrow