Nobody owes anyone anything, those that did well here at HIVE can control their votes and HP however they like, with no obligation to anyone.
Sure they can. And I can abstain from investing in HIVE if I think their behaviour doesn't contribute to a higher value of the HIVE token in the long term (and for example instead of that choose to become a Splinterlands whale).
I also don't owe HIVE anything and will criticize big HIVE stakeholders and the effect of their actions on the platform whenever I please.
Furthermore, I wouldn't really compare the situation of early Bitcoin investors (who have no option to harass smaller users) with the one of a social network.