> a result of misunderstandings or malicious compliance, but GDPR has a causal relationship regardless of the intent.

You can extend causality as far as you want if you're willing to sound like this in the open. If there were no cookies, there'd be no banners. There, found you a new target.

So on one side you have decent regulation that tries to balance the interest of the user without over regulating and becoming too prescriptive, and on the other side you have abusers who most of the times are actually in malicious non-compliance... and you find a way to blame the regulation.

Good thing it's in the rules that HN is not Reddit.