I am not surprised. A lot of people conflate GDPR with the well-intentioned but misdirected cookie directive.

A lot of people blame the EU for “forcing cookie banners onto the web”, while the GDPR solely demands that you ask for consent before storing data that’s outside of your core functional needs to operate the app/website.

The UX of those dialogs is largely a dark pattern because the law did not demand implementation details, yet people blame GDPR because businesses designed them to be a nightmare to use. Yet people applaud for App Tracking Transparency dialogs.

It’s ironic how the GDPR is painted as a villain.