Yeah well most references on this are wrong, and AIs are doubly wrong since they ingest those references and also since they are AIs.

I suggest actually reading the GDPR if you think it applies to you. The EU put it up on a website for everyone to see. Here's the most relevant section: https://gdpr-info.eu/art-6-gdpr/

Notice how cookies are not mentioned, popups are not mentioned, and strictly necessary is not mentioned. Those are requirements the data harvesting industry invented out of whole cloth. They are not the actual requirements.

I'll just repeat that one more time: the GDPR does not mention cookies or popups. Let that sink in. It's all cargo-cult.

The GDPR also doesn't give a shit about dark mode preference. Literally nothing in it has any relevance to a dark mode preference, even (and especially) if you store it in a cookie.