To go through the motions means to make a feeble effort to do something, so they were just going through the motions to keep up appearances.
Context: "The notion of it was pure idiocy of course, of course, but they had to act in a cursory fashion like they were trying to keep paranoia at bay and everyone from open hostility. " Claim: "The notion of it was pure idiocy of course, but they had to go through the motions to keep paranoia at bay and everyone from open hostility."
Considering the context, is the claim true, false, or unknown?