I really like your interpretation

Also if we step out of that for a second, I was confused that some people in the comments were mad at the DM/narrator of this story. The question of whether he’s the one being an obtuse meanie is really down to what the groups’ dynamics are;

• do they know each other well enough to completely goof off his premise and instead have a meme campaign? Then DM is wrong.
• are they meeting for the first or second time? Then they’re disregarding the work DM did to plan a campaign, and are in the wrong.

It feels pretty shit when you just want to share something with people and they sideline or walk over it for something else.

That’s why your interpretation works really well - much like the CIA they are disrupting an existing culture/status-quo and betraying the trust first shown towards them, when fostering a reciprocal relationship could be more effective to achieving their goals. Meta-Imperialism