If the link is buried, that is a violation of the GDPR. Contact details for the controller and the Data Protection Officer must be given at the point where data is collected: https://gdpr-info.eu/art-13-gdpr/. There's also something else about an affirmative duty to facilitate exercise of rights, but that's less clear-cut.
A non-functional link is also a GDPR violation.
That said, I agree in general: it's a burden on me to make these websites respect my rights, and that's kinda bullshit. I either have to go through the hoops the site sets up, or I have to go through the bureaucratic hoops of the organization that judges the hoopiness of the website's hoops. But if I do care enough, there is now a stick to wield, which is an improvement.
A non-functional link is also a GDPR violation.
That said, I agree in general: it's a burden on me to make these websites respect my rights, and that's kinda bullshit. I either have to go through the hoops the site sets up, or I have to go through the bureaucratic hoops of the organization that judges the hoopiness of the website's hoops. But if I do care enough, there is now a stick to wield, which is an improvement.