These malicious compliances are too fun, unfortunately, this kind of thing will increase engagement. Funny though, would have been a great April Fools day idea.
I think over time it will decrease engagement. I had fun with the 2 level of protests for a bit, but it took me less than 24 hours to go from full time redditor to never opening the app again. The app I loved is dead; time to move on.
I think it could increase engagement for a while, but over time it might drive down engagement over time as mods make it more challenging to participate with content. The Fediverse is still struggling to scale, so I think having a more natural transition from Reddit to here will be better in the long run. People getting confused and frustrated with a beta social platform means they might try it, hate it, and never come back. If it's gradual, people will follow more of the diffusion of innovation scope of adoption.