I think most of those accusations come from jealousy and envy over a successful post. If there was no payout, you wouldn't see that kind of reaction. People are trying to find an excuse why the post was successful.

I draw the parallel when I do facebook ads. If I have a choice between 2 pictures, I am going to choose the picture that is going to give me the highest CTR. Doing otherwise would be shooting myself in the foot.

The only exception is if the picture has absolutely nothing to do with where the person would end up. Clickbait is okay as long as you deliver value at the end of it. Bait and switch on the other hand is something else entirely.