I never really used them in first place other than contact with family. I have had issues in the past sharing Steemit with them to the point I just did it elsewhere.

It is sad they think they can just hide and use tactics like this so the word does not get out. They for sure are not trying protect their own user base but trying keep them inside the walled garden of nonsense and data mining.

At least these kind of actions tend to make people realize just how bad they can be and want to jump out of their window to escape. Shadow bans are a clever way of dealing with troublemakers but this kind of usage is just abuse.