When declining the cookies sent me away from the website, I decided it wasn't worth my time anyway. What an extremely hostile user experience for such a seemingly innocuous website.

I like it. It's honest and direct to the point. They don't owe us anything.

I don't understand why it has to redirect me to www.google.com though when I decline the cookie. Should an honest website redirect me to the website of a megacorporation when I decline the cookie banner?

the fact that doubleclick.net shows up in the requests is incredibly telling. the page doesnt even work for me with ublock origin and strick tracking protection in firefox. is this related to all the social media links on the page? is the page just refusing to work because ads wont load?

id love to read whatever youre reading, but its not even rendering/available, presumably because of adblocking breaking the site.

In the EU under GDPR, users must be given a genuine choice, meaning they should be able to refuse consent without facing negative consequences such as being redirected or denied access to the service. Creating the illusion of choice by asking for consent and then redirecting users to another site if they decline is a violation of the principles of transparency, fairness, and freely given consent outlined in the GDPR.

> should be able to refuse consent without facing negative consequences such as being redirected

I doubt anyone is forced to allow access per the GDPR.

That's likely not the point. The point as I read it is that if this is in any way targeted at EU users, then it is clearly in breach of GDPR.