Sometimes you’re caught between a rock and a hard place. That doesn’t absolve you of the direct consequences of the actions you take. Perhaps a better question to ask is how did they allow themselves to end up in this position where they have absolutely no choice but to make a poor decision in the first place? Were there no adults at the wheel leading up to this? Is this not a sign of an entirely broken system?
All indications are that they promoted themselves as "democratizing finance" and being "for the people" (quotes are the exact words used by Robinhood to describe themselves). But as you mentioned, they were still contractually beholden to larger powers, and when push came to shove, they acted entirely within their own self interest. They lied to our face to gain business. Not only that, but they continue to lie to the media (not making it clear that this was a liquidity issue). Sure, in retrospect, it's evident that it was heading this way all along, but just because a fraud is perpetuated out in the open doesn't make it any less of a fraud.
Robinhood users grouping together in a sufficiently large and unusual trade to (nearly) take down a hedge fund is unusual enough to mean some things that they didn't anticipate having to do have occurred.
