With all due respect @oldtimer this is a bit of a strawman concern. It's the equivalent of the one I've heard before.

What if CNN buys 20 million Steem and starts censoring anything fringe.

I understand what you mean, I'm not dismissing it, it's not impossible, its just highly improbable.

And because I don't want to come off as someone who is just spouting assertions without any type of backing.

Dunbar theory proposes that the an efficient social network maxes out at 150 people. From this number we have to assume collaboration, specially to this rank is fractionary. It would be difficult to imagine 150 coinciding on what to contribute towards at all times. And, since humans can't seem to care enough about people outside of the tolerance of 150, the network effect is capped in two fronts.

In other words. Imagining that millions of people can come together and collaborate at a macro sense almost goes against our nature, and we have no anecdotal evidence to prove it either.

To be a bit ridiculous (i apologize, its how i talk) we would have solved world hunger if we had that range of empathy and that selfless capacity for collaboration.