[rtb]

This is a good question. I think the answer is that it's difficult to define up-front what is illegitimate "online tracking" and what is legitimate tracking of users necessary for things like accounts and saving of preferences (without drowning in special cases and loopholes).

The idea was to let users decide for themselves, case by case, whether they wanted the tradeoff of being tracked for the rewards (including things like saving your preferences).

The tracking industry didn't want to be banned and wouldn't give up without a fight, so they looked for a loophole in this fake consent spam.