That is an interesting premise and would not be all that surprising. Alphabet agencies are always looking at how information disseminates and this could have been one such experiment that perhaps got out of hand.
That is the issue with this kind of stuff. You spin people up, get them invested, and then you worry about (or not in many cases) how to walk them back from the edge and that is not easy to do.
The best example is contract negotiations. You have to get the rank and file, riled up enough to strike, but then accept a contract that is short of the expectations you set.
On the other hand it could have simply been the small facet of truth in a huge body of lies the Q person put forth
I suspect in 50 years or so if we survive we will get to the bottom of Q
