Really, I don't know the answers, but I'm not leaving because this seems like something that could happen anywhere at anytime. I honestly don't know though.
Yes. A t-shirt contest is a joke of a security bug bounty.
https://hackerone.com/cloudflare (t-shirt)
vs.
https://hackerone.com/coinbase ($500-$10k) or https://hackerone.com/uber ($500-$10k) or https://hackerone.com/facebook ($500-$10k) or dozens of others...
This leads to one of the two conclusions: 1) They are too cocky to think that they may have security problems (which is a big problem) 2) They know they may have security problems but don't care enough (which is a bigger issue).
There is no way you can cut this to make them look good.
It isn't a strawman to state economic incentives matter. Or do you genuinely believe people everyone experienced in security will take the $50 because of "ethics"?