Forget all the stuff out there that says the GDPR protects EU citizens. This is a question of jurisdiction and enforcement. Say I run a blog under a business registered in the US funded by advertisers in the US. A EU citizen that comments on posts issues a GDPR request that I ignore. Their government fines me. I tell them to get bent, I am out of their jurisdiction. What can they do at that point?
“Ask yourself if these giants were just too nice to give in, or if they were too poor to hire a lawyer.”
Option 3, cheaper to pay than to fight it. If you aren’t from the US, people have pled guilty to even criminal charges because the cost of going to court and fighting it is higher than what is offered in the plea deal. Option 4, public backlash not worth the cost.