Sorry, but that is not entirely true. You can be shut down "in effect" by being flagged to zero Rep. It is a threat that keeps many silent. All you have to do is take a look at #hendrix22 and his wife #lyndsaybowes (they are homesteaders, without wealth); they are losing all their income from steemit because they are fighting to stop misuse of steemit and their target has the power to bring therir posts down to zero. If you check his post (you will first have to click "SHOW"), you will see many of smaller Rep supporting him and then being flagged (to zero or not), so others just keep quiet. The bad guy, his flag is almost worth $70, plus he has more than one account, so not many can counter such an attack.
That is the problem with Steemit. Because we are on blockchain, when I complain about censorship (because a whale does not believe in something being posted) I am told, censorship is not possible. Same with being shut down: EFFECTIVE censorship and shutting of accounts by killing of their Rep or income is just as bad as the real thing and it causes the loss of some very good posters and people from Steemit.