This is pretty scary, it will damage what Steemit could become without a doubt. One solution could be like some online services that check an account that seems to be flagging and even only flagging.
Check who and what they have been flagging and how frequently, then if it is abusive deliver a necessary penalty to an element of said abusive account. Really though it would involve moderators and such and could end up leading to more layers of abused power. So really I don't have a solution haha. Sorry.
Seriously I have seen quite a bit of such abuse that goes beck even several months from now. It is the reason I'm still keeping a bit of a distance around here. I'm not investing too much into a platform that is beginning to feel like a minefield.
It mostly works well, and I'm a very big fan of Steemit, so it's not my intention to put anyone off .
I just want to encourage people to do as much as possible to get rid of all flagging - not through any new complexities, just by ending the option to downvote all together.