> Advertisers said they would ignore it for this reason

That was the missed opportunity. Had the EU stepped in and said "I'm sorry, the user expressed explicit intent to not be tracked and you're planning to ignore that? How about that's a fine?" it would have survived.

But they weren't prepped to take action yet.

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pseudalopex 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Microsoft made the user expressed intent and the user expressed no opinion look the same.

	▲	K0nserv 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That doesn't track (pun not intended). It's a binary state so either side has to be the default, they just changed which side the default fell on. Prior to the change no opinion expressed and expressed intent (in favour of tracking) still looked the same.