Hi Gavin, so far as I understand, the Steemit service is controlled by a company... whereas the Steem blockchain is decentralized and not "controlled" by that company.
Thus the Steemit platform has to comply with laws and whatnot or it gets shut down by regulators, whereas the Steem blockchain (so long as their are "witnesses") would theoretically continue on beyond the death of any platform "built" on it.
Again, as far as I understand, anyone (company or individual) could also build platforms ...like Steemit on the Steem blockchain, and use or not use a TOS for that new platform at their discretion (and/or peril).
At face value your concerns seem legit to me... but if my understanding is right, Steemit, as a platform and a company that answers to the state to keep the regulators off its back probably was going to end up having a TOS and Privacy policy at some point to cover their rears legally.
There's a niche out there though... the Steem blockchain is ripe for developing an "underground" platform... just no one seems interested in doing that at the moment.