Midnight was created to enable private transactions and smart contracts without losing the utility of the blockchain.
In other words:
protect sensitive data
hide personal or business information
allow only what is necessary to be revealed
(selective disclosure)
This is one of the strongest concepts of Midnight.
Instead of showing everything on the public blockchain, the network wants the user to:
prove something
without revealing all the data
share only what you choose
keep the rest confidential
Practical example:
prove identity
prove eligibility
prove compliance
without exposing complete documents
This is one of the official pillars of the network.
The documentation itself defines this as a 'privacy-first blockchain' with zero-knowledge proofs and selective disclosure.