@denny @KathyReid specifically when Google added behaviour-based ad targeting was a huge inflection point, yes.

Underlying accelerant was and is the US American cancerous idea that corporations are "persons" beyond the ability to hold credit and/or debt, and thus have rights beyond some basic property ones. In a legal framework set up to favour the richer party to any dispute, this ensures the ratchet only ever goes one way.

It would have helped, and could still help, if at any point European leadership decided that between them they have at least one functional vertebra.