A system like this would be alright if the ranking worked closer to block chaining: in other words it should only demote the content to people who follow the person doing mute/block. Then you could distribute that rank adjustment out to 2nd and 3rd removed peers, though with diminishing effects with each hop. You need a person-to-person reputation system. Not global.

And obviously if I follow someone, their content should always be at the top for me.