I believe downvoting is open to abuse and does in fact lead to censorship. I was attracted to Steemit, not because of the monetary rewards, but more for the belief at the time, that the platform was not subject to the same levels of draconian censorship we have seen on FB, Twitter and Youtube during 2017.

I have been a long time follower of a writer by the name of Sarah Abed who has written extensively on the War on Syria. As a Syrian-born American, she has an insight into the conflict that many others do not. Her extremely well-researched views are counter to the views pushed by the mainstream media. When she writes an article, she puts a lot of time and effort into the research and writing. Soon after I joined, I was excited to discover Sarah was a member of Steemit and sharing her articles on this platform.

While her posts were providing modest rewards, she was spending days and even weeks researching each article. But someone, or someones, didn't like what she had to say, and started downvoting her because she had the nerve to criticise certain governments and express support for others. The rewards she earned dropped dramatically and she has virtually stopped posting.

If she is gone for good, she is a huge loss to the Steemit platform. If other talented writers and researchers with alternative viewpoints are also flagged into oblivion, I'm not sure what the future of Steemit will be.