When the EU regulation came up, I was shocked that a single article was being shared with 100+ "partners". I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad. At least now I get the choice to opt-out. Sidenote: Google got fined for that pop-up because it should have a "do not accept" option [1].
Companies know they don't need those pop-ups. They are putting them there to anger you and demand for things to go back. Do you want to blame the EU for not anticipating that companies would act maliciously? Sounds fair to me. But don't let the companies off the hook for acting maliciously!
[1] https://www.taylorwessing.com/en/insights-and-events/insight...