>The blog clearly works from the actual outcome lense. [...] The companies _could_ just not track.
No, you've inadvertently stated a contradiction. Your use of the word _"could"_ is literally a hope/wish/intention of the law.
In contrast, the actual outcome is that the companies didn't stop tracking. We _wish_ they would stop tracking. (I.e. "The companies _could_ just stop tracking us!") But that hope still doesn't change the observation of reality.