I guess PG's original tweet assumes that cookie banners are a) bad, b) the fault of the EU, and C) unanticipated and unintended by the EU, thereby demonstrating

I guess PG's original tweet assumes that cookie banners are a) bad, b) the fault of the EU, and C) unanticipated and unintended by the EU, thereby demonstrating their incompetence. I can't really comment on what the lawmakers foresaw or intended, but I'd argue that cookie banners are actually a) good, and b) the fault of companies who can't imagine a better way to treat their users. The reason I think they're good is that they cause a psychological nuisance to users of software which doesn't go out of their way to do them well or avoid their necessity. Over time I hope this will tend to cause an association in users minds that sites with cookie banners are somehow seedy or unscrupulous, like pop-up ads.