What impact? To get better treatment?
Nowadays is much more images rejected because the subject is "too similar". So instead of let's say 10 images are approved 5-7. This means less new images is added. SS made this kind of 'impact'. Their review rules has impact for less uploads, people started focusing on Adobe, DT and others.

Less images added weekly/monthly doesn't mean SS will be "fair, kind and loving" to contributors.

Each coin has two sides: The second one is lots of contributors are happier now. More of you will leave and delete own portfolio, more space will get the majority staying there. Do you think that Sean, Lisa, Monkey Business, will go against Shutterstock and leave the income behind?

I cannot speak for them, but I did get a PM from another big player saying they are NOT deleting their port. 

It seems that one impact from reduced uploading is that SS got slacker in policing stolen images and now they leave entire portfolios of image thieves online. That's one way to inflate the total image counts.

Unfortunately that's not new. From what I have been reading in the Shutterstock forum, at least for the past 2 years, that has alwas been their normal approach with stolen images. A contributor is found to have stolen imags in his port? Delete the stolen image but "believe" that the rest of the images must certainly be his own and leave the port online. Of course Shutterstock knows very well how unlikely the chance is and that they should terminate the whole account for breach of their policy, but they don't care, simply because they make money from stolen images just as well, and probably more from them than from other photos, as people usually steal good photos instead of crappy ones.

Do you think that Sean, Lisa, Monkey Business, will go against Shutterstock and leave the income behind?

If they feel 0.10c is an income that needs to be retained let it be. We pulled out 100%. It simply is not worth our time to dick around for 0.10c per download. I can honestly make more money picking up empty beer cans from the beach and sending to recycle center, and I don't even do that for the very same reason.

If they terminated all of those huge accounts with stolen images, they really wouldn�t have much good, sellable images left. Yes, it�s been going on for years. People here have been reporting it to them that long. They don�t care. Just another reason not to do business with them. But people still do.

Some portfolios with good original images have been pulled out by now, and if those images were also in the stolen portfolios, obviously it is in SS interest to keep them there. What a shame!

Let's say they reverse their policy.

Would you ever be able to trust Shutterstock again?

Never do business with a Robber Baron.  (unscrupulous methods to get rich)

There is also one that says, "never take a pirate's word." And those of Shitterstock are pirates and very thieves, without scruples.