You might be conflating two things which should remain somewhat separate, that is downvoting (flags) and aspects of the free market which may include exchanges between private property domains.
So, like I said, two things. First, I would prefer dislikes instead of downvotes. Hypothetically speaking, downvoting private property would be theft, a crime. It would be robbery. It would be stealing.
Now, I don't know if downvoting is theft because one might argue that nobody owns anything on the Internet or at least on Steem or Hive or other blockchains that utilizes cryptocurrencies which are accessed and not actually owned or stored. Well, again, it depends on who owns the rewards pool. Some might say the pool is shared which reminds me of communism. So, long story short, it depends on different things.
Secondly, and more importantly, I believe in the free market which means I believe in competition. So, in life, we run into filthy rich whales with a bunch of money. I don't want to try too hard to stop them from making money and from doing some things to the extent it does not really aggressively or excessively violate or interfere with the private property rights of other people. I will not try too hard to talk smack on rich people because I want to be rich too. I want to have more money, more power, more influence, more resources, more things, etc. But I am not saying that there should be downvotes at all. I don't like downvotes. But I don't hate money. I love money.
And the voting system is a mechanism, a tool like a gun. I don't hate guns. So, a downvote might be like shooting the bad guy with a gun. But you might shoot a good guy with the gun as well. And good and bad people can have guns like good and bad people can upvote and downvote or simply vote up and down.
RE: Downvotes From Whales