If opt out were truly the default, it would, in turn here, imply that default behaviour of the site is to serve the plaintext version. This is obviously not the case and has never been the case.
I'd be glad if you could point out a regulation on the content website owners must offer to people who do not wish their personal data to be processed.
Moreover, the only image in the article is a non-content header display image. The entire article is plain text. You are experiencing no degradation, and honestly an improvement! (smaller page, less loading, less waiting, easier to manage on smaller screens...) I wish this became the standard for compliance.