Assuming the fines are high enough to motivate change.

The GDPR absolutely has the capability to provide that motivation. Especially when you get hit several times for different instances of the same infraction it can really add up, potentially even a large player could be put out of business. I think that at some point in time one of these regulators is going to get angry enough that they may want to set an example.

If the cookie law is anything to go by, the real question is enforcement rather than the letter of the law.

The cookie law is quite well written and makes it clear that the obvious dark patterns are verboten. You aren't allowed to use intentionally deceptive toggles, or to make it much harder to say no than to say yes. The law is very rarely enforced though, so such dark patterns are rife.

I suspect something similar may happen with other Internet-governing regulation.

What would it look like if the coin actually dropped?

All of the silly banners and forced consent mechanisms would disappear and companies would stop tracking their users.

please tell me who i can give money to in order to make this happen. haha.

Keep a very good eye on your local elections and get technically competent people (and hopefully the ones that are not for sale by lobbyists) into the seats of power. The best bit: it's free. I'm pretty happy with the way the GDPR so far has worked out and as far as I'm concerned they're welcome to ratchet up the pressure a notch, or even two.