Europe's cookie law messed up the internet. Brussels wants to fix it

It does mandate cookie banners. The client I worked for on the last project got fined because they were missing a cookie banner.

The solution is much simpler - ban targeted ads. The entire purpose of collecting user data is to deliver targeted ads.

I don’t know if people are noticing this but apple.com doesn’t have a cookie banner. It’s perfectly possible to operate a website – even a shop – without having a cookie banner. Even one of the biggest here in Europe in terms of revenue. As OP said, cookie banners are just malicious compliance. You don’t need one unless you’re doing shady things. Unfortunately it looks like the advertisers and trackers are winning as the EU is planing to relax the rules. I believe there would have been another way, something like banning unnecessary tracking altogether.