I can see the possibility of what you are saying. The scenario here is a little more skewed than the YouTube one imo. I, and many like myself found out about Steemit by watching Youtube videos made by large stakeholders of Steem. They blatantly lie in the videos, making it seem as though money will rain down on you if you can create quality posts.
I only invested a little in the platform, as I subscribe to the never invest more than you can lose idea. I am sure there are some that have watched these same lying videos from large stakeholders (some of them witnesses) and they invested a lot of money, only to see that they were lied to and it would take them months to get their money back out of the platform once they realized how badly they were lied to. A dangerous game the ones making these videos play, as sometimes there are ramifications to being a con man.
There is one witness in particular that is well known for shilling an unrealistic view of the platform and also runs a bidbot. No surprises there. Sell the dream, give people a way to pay for the illusion they are achieving it.
At the moment because crypto is so unregulated, there are little legal consequences but perhaps, some might take the con personally.