I think having a small "Dismiss" link or "X" button could feel a little less coercive. I do appreciate being able to click outside the modal to do this, but it wasn't immediately clear at first.
Thanks for that hint! I was already prepared to close the tab because I didn't realize I could dismiss the popup. I guess the main reason for that is because it's early in the morning where I live, but also, nowadays when you get a popup like that (e.g. on Twitter or on paywalled sites) and it doesn't have a "close" button, it really means "log in, sign up or ยง$%& off"...