I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but if you are running a web server you have to try to not collect data on people who hit it. My personal website )if it were up, oops) is not GDPR-compliant, and it is completely hosted on my own server using nothing but static HTML with a bit of Bootstrap JavaScript. I have no ads. I have no referral links. I have no analytics. I don't even have comments on the articles I post.

If I were running this site as a business I would need to evaluate how much it would cost to bring, and keep, the site into compliance versus how much revenue I derive from European visitors. Don't give me the "it's simple if you aren't tracking people" line, either. It's not simple, and I'm not going to trust the health of a business to the interpretations of random Internet posters or the benevolence of regulars on the other side of an ocean.

Ok, now you are supporting two different user experiences, depending upon your site that could have massive software implications, i.e. extra cost, versus just checking IP location and saying "sorry no".

I'm not defending the decision, I'm just providing a possible explanation as to why businesses, when faced with GDPR might choose to block EU users.

ha, best comment here so far. Interesting approach! :D