Yes, the fear of retaliation even though doing something to improve quality. It is almost like a "whistleblower algorithm" so that the effect can be anonymised. This then creates a scenario of false-flags as a strategy.

It may be possible to include a bar showing green for the upvotes and red for flags. Users can read the article and make a decision whether the red is justified or not. At that point the relative green/red can become a poll on agree/disagree with a post rather than an issue of quality/plagiarism/spam etc.

Thanks for raising the issue. I don't have a solution I can immediately offer, so best to let the discussion progress.