They were voted into their positions by the community though, the community could have voted them out in place of witnesses with different views, what steemitinc just did was essentially a tyrannical take over. They removed the choices from the community. They can say all they want to that they're being fair but if they pulled this to stop something they didn't like without support from the community then most likely scenario would be they'll do it whenever they see fit, community be damed.