It's not protesting. It's learning. "Well, I'll certainly never use THAT company again!"

Protesting would imply somehow making the company aware of your actions. Marching in front of their headquarters with signs, hosting an online petition, etc. Just walking away silently and avoiding similar problems in the future is learning from experience. Photobucket may be left scratching their heads wondering why their customers left (I'm sure they know exactly why, no head scratching required). But that's of no concern to the ex-customers who simply walked away in search of a better solution. No protest. Just an exodus.

Some customers may have protested. And they are the ones who are now thinking they won the battle, are using Photobucket again, paying fees this time. Everybody gets to make their own choice. Paying Photobucket after what they did to their customers may be the best choice for some people. But most simply walked away. The "dead image" links you see all over the internet now attest to that.