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> it did inform people about them

Did it? I'm highly skeptical about that. Do you have any source showing that the general population is better informed about cookies after that law?

I don't see this as having been particularly effective, though. It just made a slew of websites add an annoying pop-up or info bar to their site that says "we use cookies", and the reason given is usually one of a few boilerplate, content-free reasons like "to improve your experience". It's just an annoyance to have to click through, and doesn't provide much in the way of useful information anyway.

Completely agree, despite the implementation of it being somewhat of a joke I believe it brought some needed awareness about the spread of user tracking or at least it existence to non-tech people.

But at a huge cost

Yes, it informed me about them to the extent that I've installed a uBlock list to specifically avoid being informed about them. I don't even live in the EU...