The fun thing about orbits is that we can choose when we want to become part of the party.
The disinformation campaign has been that extra-terrestrial contact is, in itself, a hoax perpetuated by governments to distract each other and their citizens. So, in this sense, the UFOs are both a prepared distraction and a real event. If there is ever a real event, it can be deflected as being a distraction. If there is need of a distraction, then the subject can be unpacked.
Of course, aliens throw most world religions into complete turmoil. It's quite the obstacle to "first contact" so to speak, as the risk to the Earth populations is rather high. People who are convinced they are demons. People who are convinced it's a government ruse. People who have no idea how to process their religious views in light of more expansive universes.
It's not the 80% who kind of pretend like nothing changed who need to be worried about - it is the 10% who become spastic and the percentage of the remaining 10% who resolve to total hostility.
This is actually even more so the case if the aliens are human - or distinctly sapient.
The goal of disinformation is not to get you to believe something that is false. It is to make it such that you can no longer properly interpret what real information you do have in an accurate or productive manner.