I’m not sure. Essentially it can be controlled by whoever has the most money. I’ve seen a few of the right leaning talking heads migrate across here and, say, they find themselves funded by a Peter Thiel type who wants a certain agenda pushed that is in opposition to a piece of activism that is going on.
If you have enough money and power behind you, you can become invulnerable to flags, ensure your points and like minded points are the ones that are seen, plus ensure dissenting viewpoints are slapped down.
Nothing draws in a good crowd and an upvote than populist talking points that are aimed at diffusing activism and distorting a pool of truth with misinformation. Monetise that and stick it in a moderation free structure and you’ve got a recipie for something nasty.
I’ve already seen a heavily debunked piece on vaccinations on here, yet it’s sitting at a nice healthy income that nothing but uber whale flags can touch. Naturally that income can then be reinvested, bots bought, for the next bout of misinformation. Because big pharma or something.
Moderation goes against what Steemit advertises itself as, a tech driven ideology, but a lack of tools for the community could be what kills it.