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And cigarette companies wouldn't have manipulated the levels of nicotine in their cigarettes if it didn't work.

Correct, however one is a physically addictive substance incomparable to being mildly inconvenienced by a popup.

There are plenty of dark patterns rampant throughout the digital world that are comparable to physical addiction schemes.

In fact WCAG 3.0 might address them head on as an accessibility issue

Sure, not this issue though.